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Tamil Nadu minister Panneerselvam slams Baalu on Cauvery issue

N Sathiya Moorthy in Chennai

Tamil Nadu Public Works Department Minister O Panneerselvam on Friday took exception to Union Environment Minister T R Baalu's charge that Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa could have sorted out the Cauvery water issue through talks with her Karnataka counterpart S M Krishna.

"Baalu has exposed his colossal lack of understanding of the problem. The least he can do is to desist from revealing his utter ignorance on the subject," he said.

Panneerselvam said Baalu was wrong in arguing that Tamil Nadu could exercise its rights under the interim award of the Cauvery Water Tribunal only in normal rainfall year. "This has exposed his ineffectiveness in approaching Prime Minister [Atal Bihari] Vajpayee on the issue," he said.

Quoting from a 1992 order of the Tribunal, Panneerselvam said, "If in future a situation of distress is caused by diminution in the supply of water, pro-rata sharing of the distress can always be adopted."

Though the then Jayalalithaa Government was ready for it, Karnataka adopted an 'unrelenting and unreasonable stand' by not accepting the formula, he said.

Taking a dig at Baalu's claims that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M Karunanidhi as chief minister had talked to his Karnataka counterpart into releasing water for Tamil Nadu, Panneerselvam said, "The trips undertaken by Karunanidhi and his PWD Minister Duraimurugan yielded only a motley assortment of headgear, and not a drop of water."

He said Baalu's call for Jayalalithaa to address him directly on her demand for the resignation of all 10 central ministers from Tamil Nadu sounded 'school-boyish'. "Baalu is only wasting time, playing school-boy-like, dare-me-if-you-can, games," he added.

Cauvery Water Dispute: The Complete Coverage

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