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T.N. Minister joins issue with Baalu

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI SEPT. 17. Accusing the Union Minister, T.R. Baalu, of showing ``disloyalty'' to Tamil Nadu and expressing ``affinity'' to Karnataka on the Cauvery issue, the Tamil Nadu Public Works Department Minister, O. Paneerselvam, today defended the AIADMK Government's handling of the Cauvery crisis.

Insisting that Tamil Nadu had presented its case ``fully, cogently and forcefully'' in all the meetings conducted on the Cauvery issue by the Centre, he said Mr. Baalu had ``utterly failed in his duty as a Union Minister'' to highlight the issue to the Prime Minister and find an acceptable solution favourable to Tamil Nadu.

Denying that the Karnataka Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, had acted as a ``statesman who cared for the farmers of both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu'' as claimed by Mr. Baalu, he said Mr. Baalu had heaped praise on Mr. Krishna despite his ``unreasonable, hostile and intransigent stand towards Tamil Nadu.'' Referring to Mr. Baalu's charge that Ms. Jayalalithaa had not sought to build a consensus in Tamil Nadu over the Cauvery issue, he said there was already a consensus in the State on the issue and it was Mr. Krishna who was in dire need of popular support and consensus.

Mr. Paneerselvam disputed the contention that farmers of the Cauvery delta were not behind Ms. Jayalalithaa saying the prominent associations of farmers had lauded the Chief Minister's decision to approach the Supreme Court.

Referring to Mr. Baalu's description of Ms. Jayalalithaa's efforts as ``dramatics and acting,'' he said she had been sincere on the Cauvery issue. She had even walked out of the NDA alliance in 1999 in order to ensure that Tamil Nadu's interests on the Cauvery issue were not subverted.

Referring to Mr. Baalu's statement that the DMK leader, M. Karunanidhi, was instrumental in setting up the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, he said it was only M.G. Ramachandran who, as the AIADMK Chief Minister in 1986, requested the Centre to refer the Cauvery dispute to a Tribunal.

Touching on Mr. Baalu's observation that the issue was sub-judice, he wondered how the Union Minister from Karnataka, Ananth Kumar, could take up the issue with the Prime Minister and ``succeed in his mission as well''.

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