New Delhi: The water war over Cauvery is headed towards a Constitutional crisis with all political parties in Karnataka arriving at a consensus to stand by the state government and defy the latest Supreme Court order directing release of more water to Tamil Nadu.
An all-party meeting held in Bengaluru on Wednesday night, boycotted by the main opposition party BJP, decided to defer release of water and advised the government to convene an emergency session of the state legislature to decide future course of action.
News18 learns that with all parties on board, the assembly could unanimously ask the state government to defy the order.
What has brought about the unique coming together of disparate political formations including the ruling Congress, Opposition BP, Janata Dal (Secular) and sundry other pro-Karnataka organisations, is also the SC directive to set up a Cauvery Water Management Board.
The proposal to set up a Board with members from Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Pondicherry has been a contentious issue with Karnataka that fears it would lose control over its own dams.
A two-member bench of the SC comprising Justice Deepak Misra and Justice UU Lalith on Tuesday had ordered Karnataka to release 6000 cusecs of water for one more week on last Tuesday.
It also ordered the Centre to set up the board to deal with water distribution among the four states in a month.
Answering a question on the possible Constitutional crisis these acts may create, Karnataka Law and Parliamentary Affairs minister TB Jayachandra said that the legislature session would discuss all the aspects and will come out with clear answers. “The purpose of the emergency session is to arrive at a consensus decision. I am hopeful that our elected MLAs and MLCs would be able stand unitedly to face any consequences,” he said.
Though Siddaramaiah was hesitant to put it on record that Karnataka will not release the water, he hinted which way the final decision will go.
“The state cabinet has decided to defer the release of water till the emergency session of the Assembly session which takes place on Friday. We will go by what the legislature says,”
Siddaramaiah said that he was ready for a small sacrifice to protect larger interests of the state
Top Karnataka leaders including former Prime Minister and JD (S) founder HD Deve Gowda, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha M Mallikarjuna Kharge, and former chief ministers SM Krishna and M Veerappa Moily and others are openly backing the state government as it prepares to protest the SC order.
“Defying un-implementable laws is the Dharma of government and the people” -Krishna, Former CM, Karnataka
The helplessness of the state can’t be seen as an act of defiance.
His son and JDS state chief HD Kumaraswamy said that legislature is supreme and no court in the country including the SC can dictate terms to it. “If the state legislature says don’t release water, then it will be final. Let there be a Constitutional crisis. The Centre will at least wake up from its slumber to realise that something is really wrong with the SC order,” he told News18.
Retired judge of the Karnataka High court AJ Sadashiva said that common people will lose faith in the highest court if it issues orders like this without taking all aspects into consideration. He said “If SC decides like this, what will people do? The SC must protect the federal structure of our nation. It could have transferred the case to a larger bench,” he said.
“We have repeatedly asked the state government not to release water and face the consequences. We are fully with the state as far as Cauvery matter is concerned”.
The state is hopeful that even if the SC asks Centre to act against Karnataka government for not obeying its order, the Modi government is unlikely to follow that, keeping the future of Karnataka BJP in mind.
Noted irrigation expert and former leader of the JDU Professor C Narasimhappa said that the then chief minister S Bangarappa defied the Cauvery Tribunal order in 1991 and later apologised to the SC.
“The SC can’t do much. Karnataka has every right to say no to SC order as there is no water to spare. If Siddaramaiah has political will, he can come out of the current crisis without suffering much damage. The BJP is digging its own grave in Karnataka. If Modi sides with TN or does something against Karnataka’s interests even the god can’t save his party in this state,” he said.
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