Bangalore: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on January 3 took a "dispassionate" view on the Cauvery river water-sharing issue that has embroiled Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, declaring that both the states faced distress situation.

Vajpayee said he has convened the meeting of the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) on January 13 in New Delhi to discuss the issue, while talking to reporters prior to his departure for New Delhi.

When asked whether the people of Karnataka could look at him to come to their rescue as the state was facing severe distress situation following failure of rains, the Prime Minister reacted immediately, "Like Karnataka, people of Tamil Nadu are also facing the same situation."

Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna has already written to the Prime Minister to convene the CRA meeting at the earliest and expressed the state's inability to maintain the Authority's earlier order of releasing 0.8 TMC of water daily to Tamil Nadu.

Krishna in his letter also pointed out that Karnataka was not in a position to ensure water release to Tamil Nadu as per the interim award of the tribunal, as water level in its reservoirs has depleted.

PTI