NEWS SCAN

Karnataka may comply with the Supreme Court order to release water at the rate of 6,000 cusecs a day to Tamil Nadu till the next hearing on Friday. This follows the apex court’s directive to the Attorney General to convene a meeting of the chief ministers of the two states to find a negotiated settlement. Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah called an emergency meeting of his legal team and advisors late on Tuesday night to discuss the order.

A final decision has not been announced yet, but a source in the state’s legal team told ET: “One of our main demands, for the Centre to intervene and negotiate a settlement on the matter with Tamil Nadu, has been addressed in the order. The division bench has directed the Attorney General to convene a meeting of the CMs of the two states and resolve the matter amicably. We cannot accept one part of the order and reject the other, we will have to comply with the entire order.”

Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, who has been in hospital for the last five days over a kidney ailment and dehydration, has deputed public works minister Edapaddi K Palaniswami to represent her at the meeting with Siddaramaiah. She has also dictated a speech which Tamil Nadu chief secretary P Rama Mohana Rao will read out at the meeting, expected to be held on Thursday.

This has not gone down well with Karnataka. “We are aware that the only decision-maker in Tamil Nadu is the CM and since she is not going to be present, negotiation may not happen. We need to keep that in mind while deciding on what to do about the order,” a cabinet minister told ET.

As carried in Economics Times on 29.09.16