Hogenakkal water project: Karnataka bandh on April 10

Various organisations espousing the cause of Karnataka on Tuesday called for an April 10 bandh in the state to protest against a drinking water project...

Various organisations espousing the cause of Karnataka on Tuesday called for an April 10 bandh in the state to protest against a drinking water project being taken up by Tamil Nadu along the Cauvery river in the disputed Hogenakkal region.

The Akhila Karnataka Gadi Horata Samithi, an umbrella of pro-Kannada organisations now fanning the political embers ignited by the BJP in Karnataka and the DMK in Tamil Nadu, has also threatened to black out Tamil cable channels and screening of Tamil films from Wednesday. The Samiti has called for support from all political parties in Karnataka for the bandh and a rally calling for a halt to Tamil Nadu’s drinking water project at Hogenekkal, the president of the group, three-time MLA and Kannada activist Vatal Nagaraj said.

Earlier, the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, a constituent of the Samiti, had set an April 9 deadline for Tamil Nadu to halt the Rs 1,334-crore, Japan-funded, drinking water project. Members of the group had on Monday shut down theatres screening Tamil films to protest a statement by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister that the state would go ahead with the project at any cost.

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On Tuesday, the Tamil Nadu legislature passed a resolution condemning the acts of the

Karnataka Rakshana Vedike at theatres screening Tamil films in Bangalore and sought police protection for Tamils in Karnataka.

In Bangalore, the BJP, which originally raised the subject as a possible issue for election bound Karnataka, lodged an oral protest with Governor Rameshwar Thakur and sought Central intervention to solve the issue.

“Hogenakkal is a part of Karnataka even according to topographical maps for the Madras Presidency,” said H N Ananth Kumar, BJP’s national leader from Karnataka. Kumar said the Tamil Nadu Government had not secured approval from the Central Water Commission and Union Water Resource Ministry to take up the project.

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Reacting to the issue, Karnataka Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that both states should handle it maturely.

DMK is believed to be using the water issue to counter an AIADMK-BJP alliance in Tamil Nadu.

The Bangalore police on Tuesday said they had increased security at the home of one of Karunanidhi’s daughters in the city that was earlier attacked by suspected right wing group members over Karunanidhi’s remarks on the Rama Sethu issue.