Cauvery: Harsh words flow at MPs’ meet

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee got a taste of the emotion-charged politics of the southern states today.

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee got a taste of the emotion-charged politics of the southern states today. The Speaker was forced to “adjourn” a meeting of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala MPs called to work out a consensus on how to debate the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal’s decision in Parliament.

Even before the meeting was half way through, a verbal duel broke out between MPs from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Union Minister and DMK leader T.R. Balu, Karnataka BJP MP Ananth Kumar and Congress’ R.L. Jalappa accused each other of trying to bypass the Cauvery Tribunal, forcing the Speaker to call off the meeting.

While the Karnataka MPs insisted that it was “their democratic right to raise an issue in Parliament which concerns and affects the lives of the people of their constituencies,” the Tamil Nadu MPs, accompanied by three Union Ministers—P. Chidambaram, Balu and Dayanidhi Maran—claimed that “no solution can be found through debate which may instead create more commotion and unrest in both states.”

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Caught between the sharp exchange, exasperated Kerala MPs came out to inform that the Speaker had cut short the dialogue as he felt that “in this atmosphere, there can be no discussion. We cannot reach any consensus.”

Defending their stand, DMK MP K. Venkatapathy said, “The Tribunal has given its verdict. The aggrieved party (Karnataka) can appeal before the Tribunal. Why debate it in Parliament when it can create law and order problems back in the state?” He found support from Maran and Balu, who said, “We don’t want a debate, it will create law and order problems and there’s no precedence of such a debate in Parliament.”

According to sources, at the meeting Balu warned that “any kind of full-fleged” debate on the sensitive Cauvery water dispute could lead to a 1992-like situation in Tamil Nadu, when the Tribunal had announced its interim award.

Meanwhile, in a rare show of unity among BJP and Congress MPs, Kumar and Jalappa, said, “It is not the first time. Issues concerning river-related disputes have been discussed in Parliament before. It is after all, the highest forum for dialogue. We are not negotiating a settlement in the house but just presenting our case. If we are not allowed to raise our issues in Parliament, what will we tell our people? We will have to take to the streets.”

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The Karnataka MPs also demanded that a discussion on the final award of the Cauvery Tribunal be allowed under Rule 193, which did not require any voting. The MPs had put in a notice on February 23, the day Parliament met, and later met the Speaker along with former Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda to push their case.

After the meeting, a cornered Chatterjee said, “The members wanted a discussion, so we arranged it.” About the debate he said, “I will have to consider it later.”