Cauvery row: Karnataka moves Supreme Court, to meet Union Jal Shakti minister

Following an all-party meeting with Union ministers and MPs from the state held in Delhi, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said a petition over the Cauvery row was pending in the Supreme Court. “We have decided to approach the court again and have filed a petition over releasing 5,000 cusecs of water,” said Siddaramaiah.

The petition is expected to come up for hearing on Thursday.

Apart from the Supreme Court, Karnataka has also filed a petition with the CWMA over its order, the CM said.

The drought caused by a weak Southwest Monsoon this year has triggered the decade-old Cauvery water controversy between the two states once again. While Tamil Nadu has demanded Karnataka to release water, Karnataka has maintained it will not be able to do so due to a lack of water availability in the reservoirs of the Cauvery basin.

Siddaramaiah said though the Karnataka government was keen on meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister for Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi – who hails from Karnataka – had indicated it would not be possible.

“Only the PM can invite leaders from both the states and listen to our grievances. We had sought time to meet the PM (in the past), which we did not get,” said Siddaramaiah.

This was the third all-party meeting of representatives from Karnataka over the Cauvery water dispute in the last few weeks.

On Monday, the CWMA had upheld the recommendation of the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) to release 5,000 cusecs of water from the river every day for 15 days to Tamil Nadu.