TN assembly unanimously demands Cauvery Management Board be set up
Chennai: The Tamil Nadu assembly on Thursday unanimously demanded setting up of the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) and Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee (CWRC) as ordered by the Supreme Court.
A resolution to this effect was passed unanimously in a special sitting of the assembly, hours after Deputy Chief Minister O.Panneerselvam, who also holds the Finance portfolio, presented the state budget for 2018-19.
In its February 16 verdict, the Supreme Court, reducing Tamil Nadu's share in the Cauvery water to 177.25 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) against 192 TMC allocated by a tribunal in 2007, ordered the central government to set up the CMB and CWRC within six weeks.
Moving the resolution, Chief Minister K.Palaniswami said the Central government has to set up the CMB and CWRC, and his government has been urging it be done soon.
DMK leader M.K.Stalin said if the Central government does not set up CMB and CWRC then all the Tamil Nadu legislators should resign.
He said his party is ready to ask its legislators to resign from the house but hoped that the Central government would not give space for such an action.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Waqf (Amendment) Bill 'assault' on Constitution: Sonia Gandhi
New Delhi (PTI): Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Thursday termed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill as a "brazen assault" on the Constitution, saying it was part of the BJP's strategy to keep society in a state of "permanent polarisation".
Hours after the Lok Sabha passed the Waqf amendment bill, Gandhi said the bill was "bulldozed" through in the lower house.
Addressing Congress MPs at a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party in Samvidhan Sadan here, she also said that the One Nation, One Election Bill is another subversion of the Constitution and the party would strongly oppose it.
"Whether it is education, civil rights and liberties, our federal structure or conduct of elections, the Modi government is dragging the country into an abyss where our Constitution will remain on paper and we know their intention is to demolish even that," she charged.
"It is vital for all of us to continue to fight for what is right and just, to expose Modi government's failing and intention to turn India into a surveillance state," Gandhi told MPs at the meeting.
All party MPs, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, were present at the meeting.
Sonia Gandhi also alleged that the prime minister has rebranded, repackaged and marketed numerous initiatives taken during 2004-2014 as his own personal accomplishments. That too needs to be exposed through our own public outreach activities, she asserted.
Speaking on the functioning of both houses of Parliament, she charged that the Leaders of Opposition are not allowed to speak and the treasury benches are often found to be creating disturbance in a bid to not allow the Congress to raise their issues.
Noting that the BJP members aggressively target Congress-ruled state governments, with "total falsehoods", she urged party MPs to be equally aggressive and raise the failures and mis-governance in BJP-ruled states.
This will mean much more pointed homework and research on our part, she noted.
The Lok Sabha passed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill well past midnight after a 12-hour debate.
The Bill was passed after all amendments moved by the opposition members were rejected by voice votes. It was passed after division of votes -- 288 in favour and 232 against. The Bill will now come up in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
_vb_75.jpeg)