Mangalore, October 1: Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar has urged the union ministers from Karnataka to pressurise Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to safeguard the interest of State.
Responding to the queries of media persons at Mangalore Airport before heading to Udupi, Mr Shetter said that four union ministers from Karnataka -S M Krishna, M Mallikarjun Kharge, M Veerappa Moily and K H Muniyappa- should follow former prime minister H D Deve Gowda who met the PM to apprise him of the situation in the drought-hit Cauvery basin.
Brushing aside the allegations of Opposition, he said that Karnataka fought the case in Supreme Court efficiently and appraised it of the problems arising out of water release.
Stating that Karnataka, despite facing a severe drought, had no other option but releasing water to Tamil Nadu following the order of Supreme Court, the CM said the State had also appealed before the Cauvery river Authority (CRA) headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to stay its earlier order of releasing 9,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu daily.
He said government had explained to the Centre the problems faced by the previous Chief Minister on the Cauvery issue and written to Mr Singh in this regard, "but we did not get any response".
Mr Shettar said that Karnataka had also requested Prime Minister at the Sept 19 Cauvery River Authority meet to send an expert team to evaluate the situation in the state and apprise itself with ground realities. "The Cauvery Monitoring Committee will come here on Oct 8 and review the situation."
Replying to a question, Mr Shettar said that not a single naxal came forward to surrender during the recent cease fire announced by the State government in combing operations.
Deputy Speaker of Legislative Assembly N Yogish Bhat, MLAs Krishna J Palemar, Lalaji Mendon, DK Zilla Panchayat president Shailaja Bhat, DK BJP president Padmanabha Kottari were also present on the occasion.
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