Weighed down by the concerns of a possible backlash in poll-bound Karnataka, the Centre has failed to adhere to the six-week timeframe fixed by the Supreme Court to constitute the Cauvery management Board for sharing water among Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry.
This has prompted the Tamil Nadu Government to file a contempt petition on Saturday in the Supreme Court, said sources in Secretariat. The decision was taken in an hour-long meeting held on Thursday morning convened by Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami and attended by senior ministers and bureaucrats.
With the Centre refusing to implement the order by the apex court, the BJP has become the new “untouchable entity “ in Tamil Nadu. The political spectrum in the State barring the AIADMK has come together against the BJP for its refusal to constitute the CMB, which could have resolved the Cauvery water dispute.
All major political parties in Tamil Nadu alleged that BJP is delaying the formation of the CMB because of the Assembly election in Karnataka where it has major stakes. Karnataka has expressed its resistance to the formation of CMB because it does not like to share the Cauvery water with neighbouring States.
The Centre’s move has aggravated the feeling among Tamil nationalist parties that New Delhi is always against the interests of Tamil Nadu, according to leading political commentator N Kalyanasundaram.
“I heard AIADMK member Navaneethakrishnan declaring in the Rajya Sabha that the AIADMK MPs would commit suicide if the Centre fails to constitute the CMB. The entire State of Tamil Nadu is laughing at this kind of theatrics,” said Kalyanasundaram.
It may be remembered that the AIADMK had threatened to form suicide squads in 1992 to force the Centre to retrieve Katchatheevu islet from Sri lanka. But not a single party members committed suicide then, said a retired police official.
Even senior leaders of Tamil Nadu BJP were seen scurrying from giving explanations for the failure of the Centre in constituting the CMB. Tamilissai Sounderarajan, the State chief of the party has been claiming all these days that the CMB would be constituted before March 29, the deadline. But on Thursday, Sounderarajan remained incommunicado.
The AIADMK is in a Catch 22 position vis-à-vis the CMB and the BJP. “The Edappady Palaniswamy Government continues to be in office because of the protection offered by the BJP. The show of by the AIADMK MPs in both Houses of Parliament is stage managed by the BJP,” charged Kalyanasundaram.