CM Siddaramaiah can go to Tribunal with Manohar Parrikar's letter: B S Yeddyurappa

Hubballi: State BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa, who has been accused of using the Mahadayi river water dispute for his party’s political ends, said in his defence on Saturday that CM Siddaramaiah could approach the tribunal with the letter written to him by Goa CM Manohar Parrikar agreeing to release water to Karnataka for drinking.

Speaking to reporters here, he contended the letter would be considered by the tribunal as a document of substance if the CM placed it before it. Mr Yeddyurappa, who was responding to the letter’s viability, claimed that legal experts believed it could hold good before the tribunal. On why Mr Parrikar had not replied to letters by the CM and instead chose to respond to him, he claimed persistent efforts of BJP leaders from the state to reolve the dispute had merely paid off.

Taking exception to Mr Siddaramaiah calling the BJP’s intervention in the dispute a political gimmick, he pointed out that the CM had now written again to Mr Parrikar based on the same letter.

“It is the Congress, which has been playing politics over Mahadayi for a long time. Goa’s Congress unit president Shantharam Naik has even now objected to Karnataka utilising Mahadayi water for drinking. He could not have issued such a statement without the backing of Congress president Rahul Gandhi or former president Sonia Gandhi. If Siddaramaiah is keen on resolving the issue, he should ask Naik to cooperate with Parrikar in initiating a dialogue,” he said. BJP leader Jagadish Shettar insisted that if Mr Siddaramaiah was committed to resolving the issue, he should speak to his partymen in Goa and persuade them to allow it to hold a dialogue with Karnataka.