K'taka CM proposes all-party delegation to PM

Siddaramaiah seeks cooperation of opposition to resolve inter-state river water disputes with regard to Cauvery

- DEVARAJ B HIREHALLI

KARNATAKA Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday sought the cooperation of opposition parties to take an allparty delegation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the earliest, to resolve inter-state river water disputes with regard to Cauvery, Mahadayi, Krishna and the Mekedatu Balancing Reservoir project.

Briefing the press after the all-party leaders' meeting at Vidhana Soudha, he also suggested that a distress formula be arrived at with regard to sharing of Cauvery water.

The state has been facing a difficult situation every five or six years due to scanty rainfall, and could not release water to Tamil Nadu.

Meanwhile, he suggested that implementation of the Mekedatu project, with a storage capacity of 67 tmcft, will help Tamil Nadu as water could be released even during distress. "But the Tamil Nadu government has been unnecessarily opposing the project," he rued. Former chief minister B S Yediyurappa also backed a distress formula.