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Karnataka Congress unit claims infirmities in Cauvery scheme

The Congress in Karnataka today gave a new twist to the Cauvery row, claiming that there were "constitutional infirmities" in the scheme notified by the Centre for implementing the interim award of the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal and that it would not stand the test of law.

Talking to the media in Bangalore, party state president Dharam Singh said under the scheme, the Cauvery River Authority, to be chaired by the prime minister, would have to be an adjunct to the tribunal set up by the Centre headed by the prime minister himself.

The notification, issued under 6 (a) of the Inter-state Water Disputes Act, automatically made the authority a statutory one and not a political forum as claimed by Karnataka Chief Minister J H Patel, he said.

Singh and leader of the opposition in the legislative council H K Patil, who was also present, denied the Bharatiya Janata Party's allegation that they were politicising the issue and said that the government's consent to the accord would be harmful to the farmers in the Cauvery basin area.

They said the state should have insisted on framing of the guidelines for a national water policy instead of agreeing for the implementation of the interim order which it had been resisting for the last seven years.

Singh said the party would decide on the next course of action after the hearing of the case by a five-member Constitutional Bench.

UNI

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