The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Don't blame Congress for tribunal verdict: Kharge

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Don't blame Congress for tribunal verdict: Kharge

Special Correspondent

Party to assert itself at all-party meeting

M. Mallikarjun Kharge

BANGALORE: The Opposition Congress has decided to assert itself at the all-party meeting convened by the Government on February 24 to decide on the State's response to the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. The party will ask the Government to desist from blaming it or the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government at the Centre for the injustice done to Karnataka by the tribunal.

Meeting

This was decided at a meeting of the party's elected representatives from the Cauvery basin and senior leaders in Bangalore on Monday as a prelude to the all-party conclave as well as the meeting of State MPs convened by the Government.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president M. Mallikarjun Kharge ridiculed the argument that State Congress leaders should have brought pressure on the UPA Government to ensure that the tribunal considered the State's demands favourably. "If the Centre can influence the tribunal, why did Janata Dal (S) leader H.D. Deve Gowda not use his influence when he was Prime Minister," he wondered.

Mr. Kharge criticised the Government for the delay in convening the all-party meeting. "It shows that the Government has not taken the Cauvery dispute seriously," he alleged and argued that the Government should take the responsibility for the delay in arriving at a stand on this crucial subject.

Mr. Kharge termed the final award of the tribunal a "death sentence" for Karnataka and declared that the Congress would provide all cooperation to the Government to launch a legal battle against the award.

Award rejected

The Congress meeting resolved to reject the final award of the tribunal outright. The State should decide whether to go before the tribunal to seek clarifications or file a special leave petition before the Supreme Court only after getting legal opinion from experts, the meeting decided.

Mandya MP Ambareesh, whose resignation from the post of Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting and the Lok Sabha is yet to be accepted, did not attend.

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