Chennai, The CPI-M Tamil Nadu unit on Wednesday slammed the Centre over a union minister's statement in the Rajya Sabha that Karnataka does not require riparian states' consent to construct the Mekedatu dam, calling it a "betrayal".
Terming the statement a "betrayal of the state's agricultural interests", the party demanded its immediate retraction and also announced a massive protest across the Cauvery Delta districts on August 2.
"We strongly condemn the minister's statement. The reply has sent shockwaves among farmers and the public across Tamil Nadu" CPI-M State Secretary P Shanmugam told PTI.
Stating that it is an internationally accepted norm that upper-riparian states cannot unilaterally take decisions on disputes involving inter-state rivers, the Marxist leader said "the Union Minister of State is not unaware of this principle".
Claiming that Karnataka government has never released Tamil Nadu's monthly quota of water as stipulated by the Cauvery Tribunal's decision and the Supreme Court's final verdict on the inter-state river dispute, he said "instead, it has consistently treated Tamil Nadu merely as a drainage basin to flush out excess water during times of torrential downpour".
