BANGALORE: All-India Progressive Janata Dal leader A.K. Subbaiah has demanded that the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda resign from the Lok Sabha in protest against the injustice done to Karnataka by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal in its final award.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Mr. Subbaiah welcomed Union Minister M.H. Ambareesh's resignation. He urged Mr. Deve Gowda to follow suit.

Mr. Subbaiah disapproved of Mr. Ambareesh's plan to lead a separate agitation against the tribunal award. A struggle had already been launched under the leadership of Mandya District Farmers' Welfare Committee president G. Made Gowda. All should join that struggle to strengthen the State's cause, he said.

He accused the Government of inaction and said it was the Government's responsibility to ensure that the State got its due share of Cauvery waters. The Janata Dal (S)-Bharatiya Janata Party Government should step down if it failed to protect the State's interests, he said.

According to him, the State should have appointed an advocate from Karnataka as counsel before the tribunal instead of depending on Fali S. Nariman. "Mr. Nariman is a great advocate who has done a good job based on inputs provided by the State. But he is only a professional, not a person who is emotionally involved with the Cauvery dispute like Tamil Nadu's advocate Parasaran."

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