The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : BJP to take out `padayatra' from July 23 over Mullaperiyar issue

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 10, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

BJP to take out `padayatra' from July 23 over Mullaperiyar issue

Special Correspondent

"State should be allowed to store water to full level of the dam"

CHENNAI: : The Bharatiya Janata Party will organise a week-long `padayatra' from Madurai to Theni beginning July 23 to demand that Tamil Nadu be allowed to store water up to the full level of 152 feet in the Mullaperiyar dam.

BJP State unit president C.P. Radhakrishnan will lead the `padayatra', which will also highlight the need for pressuring Centre to ensure that upper riparian States, especially Karnataka, comply with inter-State water agreements and judicial orders, party general secretary H. Raja told presspersons on Tuesday.

Mr. Raja and another general secretary, Pon Radhakrishnan, will also take part in the "padayatra."

Kerala's pressure

Mr. Raja said the State should not miss out on the opportunity to fill up the Mullaperiyar dam. The Government should not bow to Kerala's pressure. "We should express our willingness to hold talks with Kerala only after storing water to the full level," he said.

Asked how a national party like the BJP could make a suggestion that might create bitterness between States, he said: "Sometimes, only a confrontationist attitude will yield positive results." In the past, Tamil Nadu, by sticking to inter-State agreements, had lost ground. "It is time that we defied."

Mr. Raja said the Centre had not been able to persuade Karnataka to release Cauvery water as per the interim order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. He requested Andhra Pradesh to release Krishna water for Chennai.

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