From Our Special Correspondent

Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Sep 15: Given the enraged passions and unrest in the entire Cauvery valley, the present time was not ripe for holding one to one talks between the Chief Ministers of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to find an amicable solution to the Cauvery water sharing issue, said KPCC Working President Dinesh Gundu Rao in Bengaluru on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters, Rao said there were instances of chief ministers of both the states calling on each other with a view to finding out an amicable solution to this issue in the past,But, he felt it was not possible now as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to Karnataka to release water to her State leading to widespread unrest in Karnataka.

"In my view, the current situation is not conducive for both the CMs to meet each other to hammer out the solution to the Cauvery row," Rao, who was a minister in the Siddaramaiah cabinet until recently said.

Reiterating the need for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention to resolve the issue, he said the Prime Minister was "more busy in tweeting rather than responding to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's appeal to convene a meeting of all states concerned to find out an amicable solution."

So far, the Chief Minister has written eight letters to the Prime Minister for which there has been no response let alone acknowledging the receipt of letters.

"This had given a feeling that Modi was persuing the agenda of making the country 'Congress mukth Bharath' by not coming to the aid of Congress-ruled Karnataka. It is not a healthy sign on the part of head of the country to be biased towards a non-BJP ruled State," the Congress leader said and hoped the Prime Minister will ``rise above partisan politics."

Taking on BJP leaders for politicising this issue, Rao said they were saying time and again that the Prime Minister did not have any role in this issue. However, he said there was a clause in the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal providing sufficient scope for mediation in case of any State being unhappy over the verdict.

"The Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu, Kerala or Puducherry would only attend the meeting convened by the Prime Minister and not anyone else. This exercise was aimed at out of court settlement rather than waiting for the Supreme Court to dispose of petitions filed by both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu questioning the final orders of the Cauvery Tribunal," he said.

"I did not know Why BJP ministers and MPs are against involving the Prime Minister in this issue. Are you afraid of invoking wrath of their party high command if they say Modi should intervene and mediate," he wondered.