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Cauvery row brings out contrast in
working styles of Jaya, Krishna

The vexed Cauvery waters dispute has brought to the fore the contrast in the working styles of the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

While Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa is being criticised for putting in a solo effort, though even her opponents are willing to join hands with her on this issue, her Karnataka counterpart S M Krishna enjoys the confidence of all parties in his state.

Jayalalithaa has been making all the right noises and garnering media attention, but Krishna has been quietly working behind the scenes to ensure that his state does not suffer.

This was not the case when the DMK's M Karunanidhi was the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. He had taken all parties into confidence while dealing with Karnataka on the Cauvery issue.

Jayalalithaa has not tried to build a consensus by consulting, even informally, other parties in the state on ways to deal with this vexed issue. This means that she lacks a pressure group that could present the state's case before Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in a stronger and more convincing manner.

She has, in fact, criticised the Union ministers from her state for not taking up Tamil Nadu's case with the prime minister while they accuse her of not taking them into confidence.

As opposed to this, Krishna has been taking each step only after consulting other parties in the state.

Krishna had gone as far as to camp in Delhi for nearly a week to force the prime minister to convene an emergency meeting of the CRA on September 8, just before he left on his US tour.

Given the possibility of anti-Tamil riots in Karnataka, the prime minister obviously did not want to be embarrassed in the midst of an important foreign tour.

Some, in fact, believe that the protests by Karnataka farmers may have the tacit backing of the state government. These protests, which sometimes turn violent, are seen as one way of putting pressure on the substantial Tamil population in Karnataka and, hence, the Tamil Nadu government.

Secondly, despite his Congress background, Krishna got the BJP's Union minister from Karnataka Ananth Kumar to argue the state's case before the prime minister.

The effort paid off as Karnataka got a favourable ruling from the CRA at the September 8 meeting.

The opposition in Tamil Nadu has clearly pointed out this difference in approach to the chief minister. In fact, PMK founder S Ramadoss has accused Jayalalithaa acting as if the state was under a one-party political system.

Cauvery Water Dispute: The Complete Coverage

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