Cauvery dispute can only be resolved mutually: Gowda
New Delhi (PTI): Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda on Monday said the Cauvery water dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu cannot be resolved legally, asserting that all sides need to sit together to solve the decades-old problem.
Participating in a discussion on 'Parliamentary Journey of 75 Years Starting from Samvidhan Sabha -- Achievements, Experiences, Memories and Learnings' in the Rajya Sabha, Gowda said that at the all-party meeting held on Sunday, "some of our friends from the neighbouring state" raised the Cauvery issue.
"I don't want to go into the merits and demerits of what is going on," he said noting that the issue has been there for the past 60 years.
Gowda, also a former Chief Minister of Karnataka, said "this quarrel" will not be resolved legally.
"If at all our friends want to have some sort of smooth understanding, let all of us sit together and sort out the problem otherwise things will continue and the struggle from both sides will go on...this problem will not be solved unless we sit together (and) try to sort it out. Legal battle certainly is not going to solve this problem," the Rajya Sabha MP added.
Gowda further said that he stood by the people of Karnataka who are suffering as the state is "worst sufferer".
"Let five members of this House on both sides, not belonging to either Karnataka or Tamil Nadu, you (Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar) please delegate. Let them go and see the condition, what people are suffering and then let them report to this House, I will accept that. Let us not unnecessarily quarrel," he said.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
