With no reply to his letter or an appointment to meet, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday chided Prime Minister Narendra Modi for being indifferent to the state over the raging Cauvery river water sharing issue with Tamil Nadu. “Though it’s over a week since I wrote to him (Modi) seeking his intervention to resolve the Cauvery issue by convening a meeting of the Chief Ministers and sought an appointment to meet him personally in Delhi, no reply yet to the letter or response for time to meet him,” lamented Siddaramaiah, who was here on a day’s official trip.
Noting that the Cauvery River Water Dispute Tribunal has made a provision for the riparian states to find a solution to any problem through understanding and consensus, he said in a federal set-up, it was the duty of the central government and the Prime Minister to convene a meeting of chief ministers to resolve inter-state issues, as some PMs did in the past. In a letter to Modi on September 9, on a day when Karnataka was shut down in protest against releasing the river water to Tamil Nadu on a directive by the Supreme Court, the Chief Minister urged Modi to convene a meeting of the chief ministers at a short notice for resolving the Cauvery river water impasse with Tamil Nadu.