- Tamil Nadu BJP criticized TVK on Mekedatu dam rights.
- TVK offered Congress a Rajya Sabha seat, sparking outrage.
- Karnataka Chief Minister ignites Mekedatu issue, raising tensions.
- Tamil Nadu opposes dam, fearing adverse water impact.
Chennai, Jun 4 (PTI) Tamil Nadu BJP slammed the ruling TVK on Thursday for allegedly mortgaging the state’s rights on the Mekedatu dam project issue by offering the lone Rajya Sabha seat from the state to the grand old party.
To cover up the internal factional fights within the Congress party, Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar is deliberately and systematically igniting the Mekedatu issue, creating unnecessary tensions between the two states, BJP chief spokesperson Narayanan Thirupathy said.
“Despite knowing this, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay has not condemned the Karnataka Congress government till date. This is a massive betrayal committed against Tamil Nadu,” he added.
Instead of severing ties with the Congress party that has announced to build a dam at Mekedatu that would affect Tamil Nadu, the TVK handing over a Rajya Sabha seat to the grand old party clearly exposed the obsession of Vijay, who is desperate to cling to power with Congress’s support, the BJP leader said.
“It is utterly shameful to have pledged the rights of Tamils and the sentiments of Tamils to the Congress party,” Thirupathy said in a post on ‘X’.
Shivakumar on May 26 welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss the review petition filed by the Tamil Nadu government regarding the Mekedatu project across the Cauvery river.
He said the state is already in the process of submitting a revised Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the project.
Shivakumar was sworn in as chief minister of Karnataka on June 3.
Mekedatu is a multi-purpose (drinking water and power) project proposed by Karnataka, which involves building a balancing reservoir near Kanakapura in Ramanagara district (now renamed as Bengaluru South district).
Tamil Nadu has been opposing the project, raising apprehensions that the state would be affected if the project takes shape.
The project, once completed, is aimed at ensuring drinking water to Bengaluru and neighbouring areas (4.75 tmcft); it also can generate 400 MW power, according to officials.
On June 3, TVK chief Vijay announced that his party would allocate the lone Rajya Sabha seat to the Congress that felt vacant after AIADMK leader C Ve Shanmugam resigned from the Upper House.
Shanmugam quit the seat following his victory from the Mailam assembly constituency in the April 23 Assembly election. PTI JSP JSP KH
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
