Bangalore: Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha leader Vatal Nagaraj and the former Minister P.G.R. Sindhia on Thursday made strong plea in the Legislative Assembly for representing Karnataka's case on the Cauvery issue to leaders of all mainstream political parties and constitutional functionaries.

If the injustice done to Karnataka by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal award was not redressed, they must create a "constitutional crisis" through en masse resignation of elected representatives both in the State and the Centre.

Participating in the debate on the award, Mr. Nagaraj urged Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the former Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterji, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and others. Mr. Sindhia said the resignation of Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting M.H. Ambareesh would not serve the cause of farmers and that he should withdraw it.

Mr. Nagaraj said the State must exert pressure on the Centre, which had been under the influence of either the DMK or the AIADMK all these years. It was under the then Prime Minister V.P. Singh, whose Government was propped up by the DMK, that the Cauvery tribunal was set up, he said.

He said there was no Cabinet Minister from the State in the Union Ministry while there were six such Ministers from Tamil Nadu. He also came down on Rajya Sabha members such as M.A.M. Ramaswamy and BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu elected from the State for "not uttering a word against the award."

Thanking the people, including non-Kannadigas, for their support to the campaign against the award, Mr. Nagaraj said the Akhila Karnataka Gadi Horata Samiti, an umbrella outfit of several parties and organisations, would form a regional party to protect the interests of the State.

Mr. Nagaraj and Mr. Sindhia said they were disappointed over Maharashtra Governor S.M. Krishna supporting that State's claim over Belgaum in his speech to the joint legislature session. How could the conscience of a leader of Mr. Krishna's stature permit him to take such a stand, when he had committed himself to the Mahajan report, they asked. The former Minister, V. Somanna, spoke about the water needs of Bangalore.

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