Bangalore, February 24
An all-party meeting held here today passed a resolution rejecting the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal Award and decided to take legal remedies to secure "justice" for Karnataka.
The meeting, which was attended by representatives of all major political parties, announced that it was not possible for the state to accept the verdict and that steps would be taken "without any delay" to fight the "injustice".
The meeting also resolved to effectively counter the steps taken by the Tamil Nadu Government at the Centre in this regard.
Briefing mediapersons about the resolution adopted after a three-hour long meeting, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said all political parties felt that the tribunal award did not have any scientific logic. "It is also not logical in its reasoning and does not take into account Karnataka's needs and aspirations", he added.
The Chief Minister made it clear that the state was getting ready to launch a legal battle on the issue by saying legal experts had been asked to prepare the state's case. He did not, however, spell out whether the state would appeal against the verdict before the tribunal itself or approach the Supreme Court.
He said he could not, however, disclose how much time the state would take in filing a case on the issue. "We have to take due precautions and cannot rush into any legal case in a haphazard manner," he said.
The state has a window of sixty days to file a review petition before the tribunal which had passed its final verdict in the case on February 5.
The tribunal had allocated 270 tmc ft of water to Karnataka, 419 tmc ft to Tamil Nadu, 30 tmc ft to Kerala and 7 tmc ft to Pondicherry out of the total water availability of 740 tmc ft.
State home and law minister M.P. Prakash when asked for his comments on the issue said the state could even go before the tribunal to seek necessary clarifications and even guidance. "Only after this can we go in for an appropriate legal remedy," he added.
The Karnataka government had earlier announced that it would abide by the decision taken at the all-party meeting. Today was the second meeting on the issue with the first one remaining inconclusive.
Political observers here said Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and his party want to be seen as calling the shots on the Cauvery issue. This, they said, was why deliberations had been delayed as the party felt actor-cum-union minister M.H. Ambareesh and his party - the Congress - could get mileage after Ambareesh submitted his resignation from the Ministry and the Lok Sabha in protest against the tribunal verdict.
The Congress was not able to capitalise on the start provided by Ambareesh because of dissensions amongst the top leadership which does not want the actor's stature to grow further. Ambareesh has been relegated to leading protests on his own in Mandya district.
