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Centre has not acceded to TN plea on CRA meet

By Our Special Correspondent

Chennai, Dec. 20. The Centre has not acceded to the Tamil Nadu request for convening a meeting of the Cauvery River Authority on December 22.

The Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, had asked the Prime Minister last week to hold the meeting a day after the National Development Council meeting on Saturday. As Chief Ministers of all States including the riparian States of Karnataka, Kerala and Pondicherry, who are members of the CRA, would be in Delhi to attend the NDC, the Tamil Nadu side had suggested that a meeting of the Authority could be held the next day in the capital.

However, with the Prime Minister likely to attend the swearing-in of Narendra Modi as Gujarat Chief Minister on Sunday, and the Karnataka Chief Minister too tied up with prior engagements, Tamil Nadu could not press with its request, the sources said.

The Authority was scheduled to meet last month, but the meeting was cancelled for lack of quorum — Ms. Jayalalithaa called off the trip at the last minute due to indisposition and the Kerala Chief Minister did not attend either.

But, the convening of the Authority at the earliest is crucial for Tamil Nadu now, with the Supreme Court putting off its hearing in Tamil Nadu's contempt case against the Karnataka Chief Minister for flouting the court directive to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, until the next CRA meeting.

Ms. Jayalalithaa left this evening for New Delhi, to participate in the NDC meeting, and is expected to return here tomorrow night. She was accompanied by her close associate, N. Sasikalaa, and the Finance Minister, C. Ponnaiyan, among others.

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