PM convenes CCPA meet on Cauvery

Members of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) will meet for the first time on Thursday to discuss the Cauvery issue. The meeting was called by PM Manmohan Singh, in the wake of DMK leader M. Karunanidhi’s letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, asking her to intervene in the interest of Tamil Nadu farmers.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh, HRD Minister Arjun Singh, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, Union Railways Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav, Union Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran are likely to attend the meeting.

The PM and Sonia Gandhi have left it to the CCPA to decide on the issue since the CCPA involves alliance partners and not just Congress leaders, sources say. The onus in this case, would primarily be on the RJD, NCP and DMK, to resolve the issue, sources add.

Earlier today, Tamil Nadu ministers O. Paneerselvem, C. Ponnaiyan and Thailavai Sunderam met the Karnataka CM on the issue. Soon after, the Karnataka Government is learnt to have refused to release water.