Mandya MP Cheluvarayaswamy and actor Ambareesh who was his rival in the 2009 parliament elections, decided to join hands for once on the Cauvery water issue, firing salvos at the Centre and declaring that Karnataka had been treated unfairly. At a meeting attended by Suttur Math seer Shivaratri Deshikendra Swami and Adichunchangiri Math seer Balagangadharanatha Swami, Ambareesh, a senior Congress leader from Mandya, wondered how the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) headed by the Prime Minister, could order the state to release 9,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu, which he described as an ‘illiterate’ move.
The actor, who had resigned from the Union cabinet in 2007 when the state was gripped by a similar Cauvery agitation, recalled how Dr Singh had once sought his opinion on the water sharing row. “My suggestion was simple. There should be a formula for an early monsoon, late monsoon and a very bad monsoon. Mr Singh nodded in acceptance, but has now taken a decision which does no justice to his stature,’’ he remarked.
Taking a dig at the way the issue was being handled, Ambareesh said no one could set parameters for nature. “They cannot decide how much water should be released each month. It depends on the monsoon. A water sharing plan should be drawn up based on the availability in state reservoirs,’’ he felt. Hitting out at those in Delhi who were treating Karnataka like a ‘different country’, the former Union minister said: “We don’t mind being a different nation, we are self sufficient and have contributed greatly to India’s development’’.
Mr Cheluvarayaswamy urged the two seers to lead a delegation to the Prime Minister and apprise him about the ground reality in the Cauvery basin.