Legal recourse right, but Tamil Nadu acted late: Anbumani Ramadoss

CHENNAI: PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss on Saturday (August 1) welcomed the TVK government's decision to move the Supreme Court to secure the State's share of Cauvery water, calling it a "delayed but correct" course of action, while urging the government not to pursue talks with Karnataka on the issue.

In a statement, Anbumani said the State had taken the right legal route after Karnataka ruled out bilateral talks on the Cauvery water-sharing dispute. He said the Tamil Nadu government should continue to address both the Cauvery water issue and the Mekedatu dam proposal through legal means rather than political negotiations.

Referring to the proposed meeting between Chief Minister Vijay and Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, which was later called off, Anbumani said expecting Karnataka to release water through negotiations was unrealistic given the State's past stand on the issue.

Citing previous Cauvery disputes, he recalled that Karnataka had refused to release water even after Supreme Court orders in 1995 and 2002, forcing Tamil Nadu to seek legal remedies, including contempt proceedings. He said water was released only after the Supreme Court warned Karnataka of serious consequences for non-compliance.

Anbumani urged the Tamil Nadu government to immediately move the Supreme Court seeking implementation of the Cauvery Management Authority's directions to release water to the State.

He also called on the government to challenge the proposed Mekedatu dam project before the Supreme Court by placing relevant evidence on record and seeking to restrain the Centre and the Karnataka government from proceeding with the preparation of the project's detailed project report.