Bengaluru: The Congress on Friday February 4 has urged the State Government to call an all-party meeting to discuss river-linking projects proposed in the recent Union Budget.
Opposition leader Siddaramaiah has said that the Centre’s move to make such decisions without consulting the states may lead to further inter-state disputes over river water sharing. He claimed that such projects are not possible and that Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who is from Tamil Nadu, may have announced it.
He also said that Karnataka has the highest rain-fed agricultural land after Rajasthan, but river linking will ensure that Tamil Nadu gets more water and that the Centre should convene a meeting of southern State Chief Ministers as well as an all-party leaders’ meeting to explain who gets how much water.
States have the right to all information under the federal system, he stressed. He claimed that even four days after the budget was given, BJP MPs, MLAs, ministers, and even the state’s Chief Minister had not spoken about it, and how they can protect the State’s interests.
“The State Government should convene an all-party meeting right away to explain its stand on river-linking. They must inform people if it is beneficial to the state or not,” he said. He said that when it comes to land, water, language, and border issues, they will not engage in politics, and that deciding on river-linking without engaging the states is contrary to the federal system.
