Cauvery row: AIADMK to protest in delta districts on 6 October

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) on Tuesday announced an agitation against the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka governments with regard to the Cauvery row. The protest will be held in the delta districts on 6 October. Senior party leaders R. Kamaraj, O.S. Manian, C. Vijayabaskar, R.B. Udhayakumar, and S. Semmalai would head the protest in Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Mayiladuthurai and Cuddalore respectively.

EPS further said that the DMK government had betrayed the farming community in Tamil Nadu by not insuring the “kuruvai” crop and failing to get the state’s share of water from Karnataka. According to his statement, 1,50,000 farmers in the Cauvery delta region had taken up short-term “kuruvai” crop farming over 500,000 acres of land believing that the DMK government would ensure Cauvery water release.

The protest was also against the Karnataka government which had refused to release water as per the Supreme Court order. The AIADMK’s demand is that the state government must now give a compensation of Rs 35,000 per acre of dried crop in the delta region. EPS said that crops on 350,000 acres had dried up and the rest were being taken up with well-water irrigation.

EPS had criticised the DMK on Sunday, stating, “A condition could have been made by the DMK during the I.N.D.I.A. (alliance of opposition parties) meeting in Patna like Delhi’s Aam Aadmi Party did (on the Delhi ordinance issue) that they would be part of the alliance only if the Congress government in Karnataka released Cauvery water.”

According to EPS, the DMK government failed to exert political pressure on Karnataka between May and August. He added that Stalin should have boycotted the I.N.D.I.A. meeting in Bengaluru and ensured that the DMK’s ally Congress, that headed the Karnataka government, released Cauvery water as per the SC order.