A day after Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief MK Stalin’s promise to halt the construction of the Mekedatu dam, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) without wasting time attacked the Congress government in Karnataka on Thursday, accusing them of ‘sacrificing’ the drinking water and needs of the state’s farmers and citizens for the selfish coalition of INDIA alliance.
Karnataka BJP president BY Vijayendra stated that voting for the Congress would harm the state’s interests, as he rebuffed chief minister Siddaramaiah and his government in a post on “X” with the hashtags “#WeakestCM #NammaKaveriNammaHakku (Our Cauvery Our Right).”
Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK, a key constituent of the INDIA bloc, released its candidates’ names along with the party’s manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, wherein it vowed to stop the construction of the Mekedatu dam.
Reacting to the DMK manifesto, Vijayendra wrote, “DMK Manifesto exposes the Siddaramaiah govt’s clandestine arrangement with M K Stalin (Tamil Nadu CM) that has cost us our lifeline “Cauvery”, the primary source of Drinking Water & Irrigation purposes for our farmers, during the time of a severe drought,” Vijayendra said.
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He asserted that this clearly elucidates the government’s ‘lackadaisical attitude’ in advocating for the state’s rightful share of Cauvery water with the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA), resulting in Karnataka releasing water in abundance to Tamil Nadu, ‘more than our share.’
“It’s no wonder if DMK would leverage its alliance power to bargain for more Cauvery water & STOP the Mekedatu project, in case the I.N.D.I.Alliance comes into power. Voting for Congress would be detrimental to the interests of our state. Only Karnataka BJP can do justice to our state,” he wrote.
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Siddaramaiah had announced the establishment of a separate Project Division and two Sub-Divisions to implement the ambitious Mekedatu Balancing Reservoir and drinking water project of the Cauvery River valley while presenting the state budget last month.
He also mentioned that a survey to identify land that will be submerged under this project and the counting process of trees have already been initiated, stating that “action will be taken on priority to commence the work early after obtaining remaining necessary clearances from the competent authorities.”
Mekedatu is a multi-purpose project proposed by Karnataka, which involves building a balancing reservoir near Kanakapura in Ramanagara district. Neighbouring Tamil Nadu has been opposing the project, raising apprehensions about its potential impact.
Once completed, the project aims to ensure drinking water supply to Bengaluru and neighbouring areas (4.75 TMC) and can also generate 400 MW of power. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 9,000 crore (2019 rates).