Amid the rising political drama surrounding the Cauvery water issue, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy has refused to send his representatives to the Cauvery Water Management Board. On Tuesday, June 19, the chief minister challenged the Supreme Court and said that he was not afraid of contempt of court, reports Times Now.
This comes just a day after Kumaraswamy met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari.
Earlier, Kumaraswamy had claimed that he would send out the name of the nominees in the Cauvery Water Management Board (CMB) and the Regulation Authority to the Centre. He had, however, stated they will have to address certain other issues beforehand, reports IANS.
On Monday, the Karnataka CM had told reporters in Delhi that they will abide by the Supreme Court judgment in the Cauvery water sharing issue between the states. He had also urged PM Modi not to operate the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) and its regulation committee.
"There were two or three technical issues regarding the setting up of the board which had to be sorted out before it starts functioning. I requested Water Resources Ministry to change two-three clauses and it has responded positively," Kumaraswamy was quoted as saying by the news agency.
He also raised the issue of not having a Parliamentary debate despite it being an inter-state issue. "In a federal system, the state government is empowered to take the decisions that will benefit the people, and we want farmers of both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to survive. The Centre's move clearly infringes upon the state government's rights," he added.
Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy refuses to send representatives to Cauvery Management Board pic.twitter.com/WjrtoYrCnP
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) June 19, 2018
Tamil Nadu minister D Jayakumar took on the Karnataka CM and stated that his visit with PM Modi did not make any impact. He had also stated that Kumaraswamy's call for Parliament debate for the constitution of the CWMA was to seek a political mileage, reports The Times of India.
