Bangalore: Breaking his silence on the Cauvery issue, Former Prime Minister and
Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) leader H D Devegowda on October 8 decried the "peace
march" being undertaken by the Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna and announced
that his party would embark upon a campaign from October 10 to 13 to highlight the
failures of the government in handling the crisis.
Launching an attack on Krishna for his unilateral decision to take up padayatra,
keeping the Opposition parties, which backed the government on Cauvery so far
in "dark", Gowda alleged that the venture was "politically motivated to cover up its
mistakes".
Gowda questioned the compulsions that prompted Krishna to go on the "peace march" at
a time when people of the Cauvery basin districts and Opposition parties stood by
the government decision of not releasing water to Tamil Nadu.
The Congress government by its mishandling of the crisis and the decision it took
has belittled the image of the state and its people in the eyes of people of the
country, Gowda said and wanted the All India Congress Committee (AICC) president,
Sonia Gandhi to "observe how a Constitutionally elected government is behaving".
Gowda said that he would bring out a book soon on the failures of the Congress
government on the Cauvery river water sharing crisis.
He evaded reply when asked whether the state was on the brink of facing a mid-term
Assembly poll and his party was gearing to face it.
Gowda appealed to the Prime Minister, A B Vajpayee and the Supreme Court not to
punish the people of the state for the mistakes of one person.
Gowda said that his party would embark upon its awareness programme from
Bhagamandala, the birth place of Talakaveri in Kodagu district and take it to all
places in the Cauvery delta.
The party during the campaign would not only highlight the failures of the Krishna
government in handling Cauvery water row, but also the successful manner in which
the Janata Dal governments solved the crisis earlier.
Karnataka unit JD-S president, Siddaramaiah said that the party never endorsed any
of the decisions mooted by the government during all party meets and had been
opposing release of water to Tamil Nadu.
The campaign being undertaken by JD-S would run counter to the eight-day-long
padayatra commenced by Krishna from the city on October 7 to Krishnarajasagar.
On the second day of the yatra, Krishna is walking towards Ramanagaram from Bidadi.
PTI
