The Karnataka government on Thursday filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court in the matter pertaining to the Cauvery water-sharing dispute. In the affidavit, the state government said that the application filed by the Tamil Nadu government demanding the release of 36.76 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) has no legal basis. It further stated that the said quantity is stipulated in a normal rainwater year, and this rainwater year has been a distressed one till now, as reported by the news agency ANI.
The Karnataka government also said that Tamil Nadu’s application for the release of 24,000 cusecs of water per day from the reservoirs in the state is based on the assumption that this year is a normal rainwater year.
Tamil Nadu BJP president Annamalai claimed that the whole Cauvery water issue started after Congress came to power in Karnataka. He said that Congress aggravated the problem for short-term political gains. TN BJP chief also accused DMK of playing politics over National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET).
Talking to ANI, Annamalai said, "The whole problem started after Congress came to power in Karnataka. Karnataka Congress manifesto talked about the construction of a dam in Mekedatu which clearly goes against the lower riparian states” Annamalai said that Karnataka Deputy CM further aggravated the whole issue. He said, “They created the problem for short-term political gains. Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar said he will not even give one drop of water to Tamil Nadu. So he aggravated it further..”
Earlier on August 11, Tamil Nadu Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan had said that the state had emphatically put forth its requirement but despite that, Karnataka changed its stand and said they would release only 8,000 cusecs of water, that too, till August 22.
The minister had said that earlier on August 10, the Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee, in a meeting had unanimously decided that 15,000 cusecs of water would be released by Karnataka each day for 15 days.
However, after Tamil Nadu approached the apex court, Karnataka Deputy CM D K Shivakumar, who is also in charge of the Water Resources department, said that Karnataka would release 10 tmc ft of water from the Cauvery basin to the neighbouring state. According to him, the state doesn't have sufficient water in dams to meet its requirements like drinking water and agriculture due to deficit monsoon.