SMK prefers North Block to Soudha politics

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A visibly distressed external affairs minister S.M. Krishna, upset over being badgered repeatedly on whether he would return to state politics, on Tuesday categorically denied plans to do so.

“How many times do you (the media) want to ask me about my return to state politics? I am not interested, as I am extremely happy being external affairs minister,” he said.

On the rising clamour from the state Congress for his protege KPCC president Dr G. Parameshwar to be replaced Mr Krishna said he was ready to answer any question on foreign relations, but not on the state of affairs of the state unit of Congress.

Mr Krishna’s comment came at a time when Lingayat leaders stepped up pressure on central leaders to replace Dr Parameshwar with former treasurer and veteran leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa.

SMK to Shettar: Will try my best to convince PM
External affairs minister S.M. Krishna on Tuesday assured Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar that he would try his best to convince Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on the difficulties Karnataka is facing in releasing water to Tamil Nadu. The meeting of the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) is scheduled for Wednesday in New Delhi to discus the vexed issue of water sharing between the two states. Mr Krishna reportedly gave the assurance to Mr Shettar when the CM called on him at his residence before the external affairs minister’s trip to New Delhi. Speaking to reporters, Mr Krishna said: “I know the pain of Cauvery basin farmers as I hail from the same region. I am also aware of the administrative problems in resolving this distressing issue as I was the CM of the state.”

Water resources minister Basavaraj Bommai who was present during the meeting, told reporters that Mr Shettar explained in detail the drought situation in the state. “It was a healthy discussion. We explained to him the present storage levels of our reservoirs and the Stanley reservoir in Mettur, TN. It is a fact that Mettur has at least 44 TMC of water which can sustain their (TN’s) samba crop for nearly 45 days. We appealed to SMK to prevail on PM to fight for Karnataka’s interests.”