Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today (Nov 7) openly blamed the Central Government and more particularly Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, for having "failed" to take any stringent action against Karnataka Government for not releasing Cauvery water to the State.

"I openly make the charge that the Central Government and Vajpayee have not taken any action against the Karnataka Government," she said in an intervention in the State Assembly during the debate on the Appropriation Bill when a Communist Party of India (CPI) member Sivapunniyam accused the Government for not having taken any substantive action to get Cauvery water.

Elaborating on Karnataka's refusal to release water as per the directives of the Supreme Court, Cauvery River Authority (CRA) and even the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister said the Centre ought to have taken action against Karnataka under Article 257 (giving direction to a State), or under Article 365 (sending a report to the President that a State Government cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the constitution).

In spite of all these, if Karnataka had violated the directives, the Centre should have used Article 356 to dismiss the Karnataka Government, she said raising her voice.

"Why are the Prime Minister and the Central Government hesitating to take action against Karnataka?" she asked and added that she was making an open charge that both the Centre and Prime Minister have failed to force Karnataka to release Cauvery waters.

PTI