Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said that a review petition before the Cauvery Water Management Board has been filed regarding the water release order. The Chief Minister said in a statement that in its review petition, the state government said that it can't release water. The state government sought permission to construct a balancing reservoir across the aforementioned river at Mekedatu near Kanakpura in Ramanagara Taluk, reported news agency PTI.
Siddaramaiah added that a similar petition will be filed before the Supreme Court after the situation is reviewed. While talking to the media he said that he had convened a meeting with the retired judges of the apex court and the Advocate General and took suggestions from them. He added that action will be taken accordingly.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram refrained from saying much on the topic and just said that both states have to act on the decision of the commission. Chidambaram said, "I am a Member of Parliament from Tamil Nadu, so I can press the demands of Tamil Nadu, and the members of Parliament from Karnataka will also press the demands of Karnataka. There is a commission to judge this issue. Both states have to act on the Commission's decision."
On Friday, the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) endorsed the direction of its assisting body, the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CRWC) and asked Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs of water to the state of Tamil Nadu. While responding to this, Siddaramaiah said, "We do not have water and therefore cannot release water."
Karnataka on Friday witnessed a bandh against the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu and prior to that, a bandh was observed in Bengaluru on Tuesday.