Union water resources minister Uma Bharti has said she would sit on an indefinite hunger strike if tensions intensified along Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border over Cauvery dispute.
“We have asked both the states to sit together, solve this problem outside the court and then approach the court with solution,” ANI quoted Bharti saying to reporters.
“There was a request from Karnataka government to our ministry to form an expert committee to take view of the availability of water,” she added.
Earlier, the meeting chaired by Bharti over Cauvery issue ended without result, Karnataka chief secretary Arvind Jadhav told PTI.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Tamil Nadu PWD Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy also attended the meet which is being held in line with the Supreme Court’s order asking Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi to facilitate a meeting to reach a solution to the inter-state water crisis.
Karnataka Water Resources Minister MB Patil, chief secretaries of the two states Arvind Jadhav (Karnataka) and Rama Mohana Rao (Tamil Nadu) are the other officials present in the meeting.
Prior to attending the meeting, Siddaramaiah reiterated Karnataka’s “severe difficulties” in meeting its water requirement and expressed hope that the meeting would arrive at a solution which is in the interest of its people.
With inputs from PTI
