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Cauvery row getting embroiled in local politics

It is now the turn of political parties within Karnataka to battle it out on the Cauvery crisis, after the farmers' initial agitation against the Supreme Court ruling ordering Karnataka to release the waters to Tamil Nadu.

The opposition parties gave their support after the state government defied the order. They even urged Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to convene a Cauvery River Authority meeting to reverse the apex court's order.

But the situation changed on October 6 after Chief Minister S M Krishna announced that he would be undertaking a padayatra from Bangalore to the Krishnaraja Sagar dam near Mysore to show solidarity with the agitating farmers.

The ruling Congress, which had remained dormant after the public outrage on a farmer's suicide in Mysore in protest against the release of the Cauvery waters, welcomed the padayatra. But the opposition was quick to call it a political stunt.

Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda held the chief minister responsible for the present crisis and said Krishna should not have signed the CRA's decision in the first place. Deve Gowda said the chief minister is now trying to cover up his mistake by launching a padayatra.

In addition to the opposition's criticism, G Made Gowda, chairman of the Cauvery River Protection Committee, met Krishna on Tuesday, the second day of the padayatra, and asked him to abort it as it could destroy the state's unity. He advised the chief minister to work together with the other parties to protect the state's interests.

Krishna promised to reconsider his march, but after a meeting with senior Cabinet colleagues decided to continue with it.

Political parties in Karnataka have always exploited the Cauvery water crisis to suit their ends. The opposition is quick to make capital of the ruling party's helplessness in the face of orders from the CRA or the Supreme Court, and labels the government 'anti-farmer' each time it is forced to release the waters.

In 1992, Deve Gowda, then leader of the united Janata Dal, had led a farmers' agitation against the Congress government.

But when Deve Gowda became chief minister and was forced to release five thousand million cubic feet of water to Tamil Nadu, the Congress, as the main opposition, launched an agitation labelling him a betrayer of the farmers.

J H Patel, who took over as chief minister after Deve Gowda became prime minister, enjoyed a good rapport with his counterpart in Tamil Nadu, M Karunanidhi, and never got into any trouble on the water-sharing issue.

Bountiful rains during this time also helped to keep the crisis at bay. Patel also released water on a regular basis, at times without making it public. Tamil Nadu too extended co-operation by never raising the issue publicly. If a crisis did arise, it was sorted amicably between both chief ministers.

Meanwhile, intelligence reports suggest that the farmers, who have remained united for the last 40 days of their agitation, seem to be getting divided on political lines and may resort to violence when the padayatra enters Mandya district.

But the Congress state leadership has refused to accept these reports, though, during the farmers' agitation, some Congress legislators from the district had attempted to launch pro-government marches, which were opposed bitterly by the agitating farmers, leading to violence.

Krishna, whose padayatra is slated to enter Mandya on October 12, has many political rivals in this district, his home constituency. Opposition politicians in the district have threatened him with dire consequences if he enters the district with the padayatra.

Cauvery Water Dispute: The Complete Coverage

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