Union Minister and BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
Credit: PTI File Photo
As Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are wedged in a legal battle over the sharing of Cauvery water, union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar took aim at the Congress state government and questioned why did deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar announce the release of 10 TMC of water without any prior consultation.
Speaker to reporters at the BJP headquarters at Delhi on Monday, Chandrasekhar said that in the two months that Congress has been in power, over 50 cases of farmer suicides by have been recorded, 16 districts have been struggling with a drought-like condition, and around 85 taluks reeling under a huge rain deficit.
“The condition of the farmers in the state is very poor and they are facing many challenges including the severe electricity shortage. In the background of all these challenging situations for our farmer brothers, Congress leader DK Shivakumar has announced the release of 10 TMC of Cauvery water without any prior consultation with the court or any all-party meeting. When the farmer distress is so pronounced, why did he do it,” Chandrasekhar asked.
He added that Shivakumar did it due to the pressure created by the senior partner of the INDIA Alliance from the DMK. “There has been a unique relationship between the Congress and DMK; if we analyse the history, we see an illustrious track record of the DMK putting pressure on Congress, and an equally illustrious track record of the Congress responding to that pressure,” Chandrasekhar alleged.
He said that even during such times of the clear agricultural crises, neither the chief minister or the deputy CM have stepped out of Bengaluru to visit any of the drought-hit districts.
“Their whole travel remains restricted to dealing with Delhi and sitting in Bengaluru; they don't go out anywhere else, they don't understand what the crises are and don’t understand the pain of the farmers at all. They succumb to political pressure, and this is the reason they made the announcement of releasing Cauvery water,” he said.