The meeting of the Cauvery River Authority scheduled for Friday evening to hammer out an amicable solution to the water-sharing dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu has been postponed.

The decision follows the inability of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to attend the meeting due to indisposition, official sources said.

Kerala Chief Minister A K Antony had already informed about his inability to attend the meeting.

The sources said a quorum of three chief ministers is required for holding the CRA meeting. Cauvery has four riparian states -- Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Kerala. "That is why the meeting is postponed."

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had taken the initiative to convene the meeting.

"Except Kerala chief minister, everyone else had given consent to attend the meeting," the sources said.

The prime minister had also agreed to meet Jayalalithaa and Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna separately before the CRA meeting. Krishna met him in the afternoon.

PTI