Bangalore: Defying threats from farmers' bodies, Karnataka Chief Minister S M
Krishna on October 11 concluded his truncated six-day padayatra in trouble-hit
Mandya in his home district to a rousing reception, saying there was no "crisis"
between his government and the Supreme Court on the Cauvery issue.
At the end of his controversy-embroiled yatra, which was cut short by two days,
Krishna was given a boisterous welcome by farmers and Congress activists as he
stepped into Mandya, which had seen virulent protests against release of Cauvery
water to Tamil Nadu.
A day ahead of the public rally in Mandya, Krishna, who came under attack from
farmers' bodies spearheading the agitation and Opposition parties, said, "I have
strained every nerve to keep it (the march) apolitical. I have not spoken politics.
I don't intend to. Tomorrow, you will hear me."
As the Supreme Court on October 11 issued notice, the second time within a month, to
him on a contempt petition filed by Tamil Nadu for "wilfully defying" the court
order, he said, "I have the highest respect for judiciary. I have honestly tried to
obey directives of judiciary."
"It's a water crisis concerning the farmers of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It's not a
crisis between institutions," he told reporters during the padayatra from Maddur,
his home constituency, to Mandya which he reached after a gruelling walk in the
evening.
Krishna hit out at his counterpart in Tamil Nadu, Jayalalithaa, on Congress
president Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin issue, asking her to "shut her mouth",
saying people of Jammu and Kashmir have given her a "direct reply".
PTI
