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Jaya precipitating Cauvery crisis:
Karnataka minister

With each passing day, the row over sharing of Cauvery waters is taking a turn for the worse.

Unhappy with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa accusing him of 'roguish conduct', Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna has decided not to let the barbs go unanswered.

On Monday, State Water Resources Minister H K Patil took on the Tamil Nadu chief minister saying, "It is unbecoming of a chief minister to use undignified language. Words like 'roguish conduct' are undoubtedly provocative."

Patil accused Jayalalithaa of precipitating the Cauvery waters crisis and also of committing a fraud on the co-riparian state of Karnataka.

"In the 1960s and 1970s, the Tamil Nadu government grossly and unilaterally violated the so-called 1924 agreement (between the princely State of Mysore and the British-ruled Madras Presidency) and expanded the irrigated area from around 1.6 million (16 lakh) to 2.8 million (28 lakh) acres."

"This illegal expansion and appropriation of Cauvery waters is nothing but a fraud on Karnataka, and has been the root cause of the problem for which Jayalalithaa is trying to blame Karnataka," Patil said.

"By upholding the interest of farmers, the government of Karnataka is not committing any offence but only discharging its duty," he said.

Karnataka had last week refused to honour a Supreme Court directive to release 9,000 cusecs [0.8 thousand million cubic feet] of water/day to Tamil Nadu as per the orders of the Cauvery River Authority.

It may be recalled that in 1991, the ultimate authority to intercede in such disputes had been wrested in the prime minister who heads the CRA. Unfortunately, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has not yet been able to effect a compromise between the two states.

The biggest sufferers in this war of one-upmanship happen to be poor farmers on either side. Further, important irrigation and drinking water supply projects have been adversely affected by the sheer cussedness displayed by almost all parties to the dispute.

Krishna's latest initiative, a padyatra, to calm tempers in his state has been termed by the opposition as a 'political gimmick to cover up for the mishandling of the Cauvery issue' by his government.

The central leadership of the Congress adopted a guarded posture even as its government in Karnataka stuck to its confrontationist stand with the Supreme Court and Tamil Nadu.

"The Congress has for the last 55 years observed the convention of not interfering in inter-state disputes, particularly relating to land and water," said Congress chief spokesman S Jaipal Reddy.

"The issue should be referred to the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) or to the court," was all that he was willing to say when journalists persisted with their queries.

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