Bangalore, Oct 1 (IANS) Opposition to release of Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu intensified in Karnataka Monday with five Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) lawmakers, four legislators and one Lok Sabha member planning to quit in protest.
The four state legislators and the Lok Sabha member submitted their resignations to state JD-S president H.D. Kumaraswamy, who said the party would decide Tuesday whether to accept them.
Kumaraswamy told reporters in Bangalore that Tuesday’s meet would also consider whether all its 26 assembly members should quit protesting water release to Tamil Nadu.
All the five lawmakers who offered to quit are from Mandya district, 80km from Bangalore and the hot-bed of the Cauvery water agitation.
The five who have offered to quit are Lok Sabha member N. Cheluvarayaswamy and four Karnataka assembly members, Kalpana Siddaraju, C.S. Puttaraju, M. Srinivas and A.B.R. Bandisidddegowda.
The JD-S, headed by former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda, has a strong base in Mandya and Cauvery basin districts of neighbouring Mysore and Chamarajanagar.
The JD-S has 26 members in the 225-member assembly. It has three Lok Sabha members from the state: Deve Gowda, his son Kumaraswamy and Cheluvarayaswamy.
With assembly elections due May next, the JD-S clearly does not want erosion in its support by merely issuing statements against water release as farmers in the Cauvery basin districts, particularly Mandya, have been holding demonstrations daily since Sep 19.
On that day, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh – as head of the Cauvery River Authority – directed Karnataka to release 9,000 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu from Sep 20 to Oct 15.
However, Karnataka started releasing water only from Sep 29 after the Supreme Court rapped it Sep 28 for not following the prime minister’s order.
Farmers and Kananda activists have been blocking the road between Bangalore and Mandya and Mysore, affecting traffic.
The state government has appealed to the prime minister to withdraw his Sep 19 order. It is also filing a petition in the Supreme Court.
