On the eve of the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) meeting in New Delhi, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa chaired a high-level meeting of senior ministers and officials on Tuesday to chalk out Tamil Nadu’s strategy. Jayalalithaa will travel to New Delhi on Wednesday morning to take part in the meeting, to be chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which will see the participation of three other Chief Ministers.
This is the first time a CRA meeting is being convened since February 2003, when a meeting had been chaired by then Prime Minister A B Vajpayee. The CRA meet has been convened after the Supreme Court, hearing a petition moved by the Tamil Nadu government, reserved strong words of criticism for the Prime Minister’s Office for failing to convene the meeting.
Karnataka’s Jagadish Shettar, Kerala’s Oommen Chandy and Pondicherry’s N Rangasamy will be the other Chief Ministers taking part in the meeting.
Jayalalithaa’s meeting at the Secretariat reviewed the arguments and points that are to be raised by the Tamil Nadu government in its ongoing water dispute with the Karnataka government.
Finance Minister O Panneerselvam, Electricity, Prohibition and Excise Minister Natham R Viswananthan, Municipal Administration and Rural Development Minister K P Munusamy, Housing and Urban Development Minister R Vaithilingam and Public Works Minister K V Ramalingam took part in the meeting.
Chief Secretary Debendranath Sarangi, PWD Secretary M Saikumar, Cauvery Technical Cell Chairman R Subramanian and other officials were also present.
Wednesday’s meeting of the CRA will be the latest development in a two-decade long wrangle between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over the water of the Cauvery.
In a significant victory for Tamil Nadu in the row, the Cauvery River Tribunal had granted it the majority share of the river’s water. But Karnataka has refused to comply with the Tribunal’s order so far.
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