Prime Minister will be fair on Cauvery, says Jayalalithaa

Chennai: Criticising DMK chief Karunanidhi for remaining silent on the Cauvery issue during his tenure as chief minister for personal interests, Ms J. Jayalalithaa on Monday said that she was confident that Prime Minister Modi would be fair to the state in the Cauvery water dispute with Karnataka.

Holding that all political parties in the state shared a common view on constituting the Cauvery Management Board (CMB), Jayalalithaa refuted Karunanidhi’s demand for an all-party meeting and said it was unnecessary.

“We have to be fair to the BJP government in giving some time before it acts on our demand to constitute the Cauvery Management Board,” she said.  

Commenting on the statement by Union chemicals and fertilisers minister Ananth Kumar that there was no proposal to set up the CMB, Jayalalithaa said that the remarks were not made by Prime Minister Modi or minister for water resources Ms Uma Bharti and that the state government need not see it as a statement by the Union government.

Ms Jayalalithaa  pointed out that she had presented a memorandum to Modi during her meeting with him on June 3, calling for constituting the CMB, among other demands. “The Prime Minister has kindly said he would take appropriate action. He seeks good relations with Tamil Nadu government and wants to help the state. Constituting the CMB is part of the final award (of 2007) of the Cauvery

Tribunal and it needs some time to implement it,” Ms Jayalalithaa said.

“We are confident that the Prime Minster will be neutral in this matter and it is fair that the Centre is given some time.”

The chief minister charged her rival M. Karunanidhi with failing to get the final award of the Cauvery Tribunal notified in a Central gazette despite being in power at Centre and state in 2007 and accused him of considering interests of “family business” in Karnataka.