Palaniswami slams Karnataka govt on Mekedatu issue; questions DMK's 'silence'
Chennai (PTI): AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Saturday attacked the ruling Congress in Karnataka for announcing its decision to go ahead with the Mekedatu reservoir and hit out at the DMK government's alleged silence over the issue.
The Karnataka government envisages constructing a balancing reservoir across river Cauvery at Mekedatu in that state to meet Bengaluru's drinking water needs, but Tamil Nadu has been opposing it saying the project would harm its interests.
Palaniswami, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly alleged that DMK, along with its ally Congress, has been working against Tamil Nadu's interests ever since it came to power in 2021.
He said he had already raised in the state Assembly, the previous AIADMK government filing a contempt plea in the Supreme Court against the chief of the Cauvery Water Management Authority for taking up the Mekedatu issue in the CWMA agenda in 2018.
That case was pending before the SC.
However, the Mekedatu issue again came up before a CWMA meeting earlier this month, but TN did not walkout in protest against it, he said in a statement.
In this background, the Karnataka government has announced going ahead with the project, while presenting its budget on Friday, the LoP said.
He recalled that the neighbouring had announced that a separate project division and two sub-divisions have already been set up to implement the ambitious project, besides initiating a survey to identify land that will be submerged under this project. Besides, counting of trees has also been taken up.
"This is against the Supreme Court verdict and amounts to contempt of court," he added.
"People really don't know what the DMK government is waiting for. (Former chief minister M) Karunanidhi did not extend the agreement on Cauvery and allowed dams across the river in Karnataka, thus betraying the people of Tamil Nadu," he said.
He charged Stalin with 'betraying' the people of the state on the current issue.
Cauvery serves as the source of drinking water in Tamil Nadu's 20 districts and if the Mekedatu project is allowed, they will be affected. The delta districts will turn into a 'desert,' he added.
The former CM said that whenever the BJP or Congress governments in Karnataka acted against Tamil Nadu on the Cauvery dispute, the "Amma government" of the AIADMK had resisted and prevented them politically and legally.
He demanded immediate withdrawal of the plans to implement the Mekedatu project.
He warned of a massive protest, involving people and farmers, by his party against the Congress government in Karnataka and the central and TN governments "that are mute witnesses" to the former's betrayal of Tamil Nadu if the project was not shelved immediately.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
