Southern States - Karnataka   

Pro-Kannada forum against water release

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE Sept. 9. The Cauvery-Krishna Protection Forum (CKPF), a representative body of a number of major pro-Kannada organisations including the Kannada Sahitya Parishat, has asked the Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, not to jeopardise the interests of the State by releasing 9,000 cusecs of Cauvery waters to Tamil Nadu on a daily average as suggested by the Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee.

Addressing a convention here today to discuss the future course of action on the Cauvery issue, a number of leaders of the CKPF felt that Mr. Krishna and his party were playing political games while the Opposition parties were waiting in the wings for their share of "political fruit". If the Congress and the Opposition parties had any concern, they should shun their political positions in the larger interest of the State.

The convention took serious exception to the "indifference" of the leaders of Tamils living in the State. It observed that "releasing Cauvery waters at this crucial juncture will not only affect agriculture in rural areas, it will also affect urban people in many ways, including shortage of drinking water, whether they were Kannadigas or Tamils. Our Tamil brothers have been remaining indifferent to the Cauvery crisis. They should now wake up and join hands with others for protecting the interests of the State," it said.

The meeting also witnessed a note of dissent on giving a political character to the CKPF. The Kannada Chaluvali leader and former MLA, Vatal Nagaraj, said the CKPF had the potential to metamorphose itself into a regional political party and all its leaders would shortly tour the State. He urged the Kannada Sahitya Parishat to back his views.

However, the President of the parishat, Harikrishna Punaroor, and the Honorary Secretary, Pundalika Halambi, politely declined to be a part of the CKPF's political agenda. They said the activities of the parishat were not merely confined to cultural and literary activities. It was equally concerned about all vital issues such as water, land (border), and language of the State.

It would participate in any movement or agitation, provided it was apolitical, they clarified.

The former MLAs, G. Narayana Kumar and Prabhakara Reddy, the former chairman of the Kannada Development Authority, Chandrashekara Patil, and others spoke.

Support for bandh

The CKPF pledged its support for making the proposed Bangalore bandh on Thursday to protest against the release of Cauvery waters to Tamil Nadu.

It also charged that the State Government was not showing the same concern in getting the former minister, H. Nagappa, released from the hands of Veerappan as it had done when it got the popular actor, Rajkumar, released.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Expert summoned to join STF?
• JD(U), JD(S) to join protesters
• Drought: Centre urged to assist State
• Efforts on to get Chairman of KPCC OBC Cell removed
• CRA decision satisfactory: Shettar
• Regional PU education boards planned
• Pro-Kannada forum against water release
• Veerappan informers warned of stern action
• Malaysian offer on highway accepted

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu