DECIDING STRATEGY: Ponnala Lakshmaiah, Minister for Major Irrigation, greeting the TDP delegation of Kodela Sivaprasada Rao, Kadiam Srihari and Sana Maruti at the all -party meeting at the Secretariat in Hyderabad on Tuesday. — PHOTO: P.V. Si vakumar

HYDERABAD: The Government's approach in staking the State's claim over surplus Krishna water at the new Krishna Water Tribunal turned out to be a contentious issue at an all-party meeting on Tuesday.

The meeting, convened to evolve the strategy to be adopted by the State before the tribunal that is hearing the views of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra, failed to arrive at a consensus on the issue of establishing the State's `right' over the surplus.

Opposition parties accused the Government of filing an interlocutory application before the tribunal recently undertaking not to claim this right. This, they said, undermined the efforts by successive Governments to establish the State's right over the surplus waters to sustain ongoing irrigation projects.

`Political game'

Midway through the meeting, Telugu Desam Party and Telangana Rashtra Samithi representatives, led by their general secretaries K. Srihari and V. Prakash, respectively walked out. The TRS demanded that surplus water be used in other regions only after fully meeting the needs of Telangana region.

Major Irrigation Minister P. Lakshmaiah, who chaired the meeting, dismissed the Opposition's criticism as a political game. He told reporters later that the Government had filed a `memo' and not an affidavit before the tribunal and had taken the stand that Andhra Pradesh had a right over the surplus water. He rejected Mr. Srihari's demand for replacement of the counsel arguing the State's case before the tribunal.

He said the TDP, Congress, CPI (M), CPI, BJP and others appeared to be in support of the Government's view that the liberty given by the earlier (Bachawat) tribunal to Andhra Pradesh to use the surplus waters should be converted into a right by effectively arguing the case now.

Six reasons

The memo cited six reasons while seeking the right -- drought in districts like Mahabubnagar, non-release of water by Maharashtra and Karnataka during deficit years, fluoride problem in Nalgonda district, salinity in other areas, low rainfall in certain regions, and non-utilisation of allocations by upper riparian states.

Mr. Lakshmaiah said the presentation of the case before the tribunal was so effective that it had almost cleared all the new projects based on surplus water through an interim order. The charges levelled by the Telugu Desam were yet another attempt to stall the projects for political gain, he said. He would convene another all-party meeting on the issue.

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