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PM must force Karnataka to release water: DMK

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI Oct. 15. The DMK president, M.Karunanidhi, today sought the intervention of the Prime Minister, A.B.Vajpayee, to force Karnataka to release Cauvery water, in line with the Supreme Court order. If his good offices with Karnataka did not prevail, Mr. Vajpayee should exercise his powers under Article 256 (obligation of States and the Union) of the Constitution and issue a special order, releasing water to Tamil Nadu.

So far, the Union Government had taken a neutral stance on the issue, Mr. Karunanidhi told presspersons here.

The Karnataka Government should give up its ``stubborn'' stance. The issue should not have gone this far, especially as even issues among nations could be settled through negotiations.

On linking major rivers in south India, Mr. Karunanidhi said it had been a demand for long. ``In 1970-71, the Kerala Chief Minister, Achutha Menon; the Karnataka Chief Minister, Veerendra Patil, and I debated this with the Union Water Resources Minister, K.L.Rao, for a very long time. There were many discussions after that too. If steps were initiated now, at least the future generations would not face ``knotty'' issues.

(K. Rajaram, a former State Minister, has written to Mr.Vajpayee, requesting him to implement the scheme to link rivers in the north and the south. ``By this the Government can provide work to crores of people,'' he said.)

On the State ordinance banning forced conversions, Mr.Karunanidhi said the DMK youth wing would highlight it in its October 21 agitation. The youth wing leader, M.K.Stalin, would lead the protest.

In a statement, Mr. Stalin pointed out that many sections including government servants, contract labourers, weavers, and anganwadi workers were affected under the ``insensitive AIADMK Government''. Also, the law and order situation had deteriorated and many schemes for the poor were discontinued.

Asked about the director, Bharatiraja's clarification of his earlier comments, Mr. Karunanidhi refused to react, saying the film artists' Neyveli agitation was over.

Meanwhile, Mr.Karunanidhi wrote to the Prime Minister, expressing his happiness over the National Democratic Alliance's October 10 decision to implement the Sethu Samudram project from next year.

``On behalf of the people of Tamil Nadu, I thank you for this decision. My party has raised this issue for the past 50 years. In this half century, I have written personal letters and spoken to most of the Prime Ministers about it,'' he said. The project should be ``pursued'' on a ``fast track.''

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