ELECTIONS '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

Tamil MPs walk out of Lok Sabha over Cauvery for the second day

The All India Anna DMK, Marumalarchi DMK and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam members walked out separately from the Lok Sabha today in protest against the adjournment sought by the government in the Cauvery case in the Supreme Court and against the failure of the government to notify a scheme to implement the interim award of the Cauvery water disputes tribunal.

The House witnessed uproarious scenes for the second day today when the issue was raised by AIADMK leader Sedapatti R Muthaiah who was interrupted by many members, mainly those from Karnataka.

Former Kerala chief minister K Karunakaran (Congress) and N N Krishna Das (CPI-M) made a forceful plea that Kerala should be included in any negotiations to tackle the Cauvery water dispute as Kerala contributed 20 per cent of this water. Karunakaran even warned that the people of Kerala would react if it was not involved in the discussions.

Muthaiah said there was no political will on the part of the BJP-led government at the Centre to notify the scheme to implement the tribunal's interim award. He also alleged that the United Front government, which included the DMK and the TMC, had betrayed the people of Tamil Nadu.

Muthaiah said the government has sought two months adjournment in the Supreme Court since it was hesitating to notify the scheme, and led his party colleagues out of the House, saying that the government has failed in fulfilling its constitutional obligation.

The next to walk out was V Gopalswamy (MDMK), who said the government had committed a grave error by not formulating a scheme to implement the interim award of the tribunal as committed by the attorney general in the Supreme Court 16 months ago. This was a danger signal and constituted injustice to the people of Tamil Nadu, he said before walking out.

Murasoli Maran (DMK) said a scheme was formulated by the United Front government but it was not being implemented by the present government. Condemning the government's attitude, he and other DMK members walked out. Earlier Dr Subramanian Swamy (JP) also joined the protestors who walked out.

Krishna Das (CPI-M) charged that the government was planning to convene a meeting of only Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to sort out the issue, and said Kerala should also be involved in all discussions.

On several occasions R L Jalappa (Congress) and Dhananjay Kumar (BJP), members from Karnataka, were seen clashing with AIADMK members.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report