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Jaya reiterates charges against TN CM

The war of words between Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham chief J Jayalalitha on the Cauvery water issue continued today, with the latter accusing the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham chief of sacrificing the state's interests to protect Prime Minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee.

Irked by Karunanidhi's rejoinder yesterday, Jayalalitha, in a statement, has reiterated her charge that the CM had done injustice to the state by agreeing to delete the 'vital clause' in the original draft scheme, prepared by the Inder Kumar Gujral government.

The clause had sought to empower the Centre to take over the maintenance and functioning of the reservoirs of the state if it failed to implement the decision of the Cauvery River Water Authority.

Despite the AIADMK's plea at an all-party meeting convened by the state government on August 3, 1998 -- that the original draft scheme should not be changed and it should be announced in the gazette of the Union government before the August 12 deadline set by the Supreme Court -- Karunanidhi rushed to New Delhi to save himself, she charged.

She alleged that Karunanidhi had also done immense harm to the state's interests by withdrawing the case from the Supreme Court in 1972, on the ground that the Union government was in a position to resolve the issue through talks.

Ridiculing the formation of the CRWA, Jayalalitha said one of the 'vital clauses' of the agreement, which Karunanidhi was proud of, was that even if one of the four chief ministers, constituting the CRWA, raised an objection, the prime minister, heading the body, could not take any decision.

"Is Mr Karunanidhi still saying that the CRWA, headed by the prime minister, has authority to enjoin Karnataka to release water from Cauvery, without that state's concurrence?" she asked.

She expressed surprise as to why Karunanidhi, who had once lauded the original draft scheme prepared by the Gujral government as the best one, had changed his stand.

UNI

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