3rd day’s session washed out

The third day of the assembly session on Friday in both houses at the Suvarna Soudha was swallowed by the issue of releasing Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. Members of the opposition in both houses rushed to the well as soon as the session began and protested over releasing water to Tamil Nadu.

JD (S) leader Bandeppa Kashempur tore up the sheet of the written reply provided by chief minister Jagadish Shettar on the previous day in which he promised that he would protect the interests of the people of the Cauvery basin. Kashempur called the BJP leaders a bunch of liars. Soon, all legislators came to the well of the house and started raising slogans against the ruling BJP government.

Minister for law and parliamentary affairs S Sureshkumar maintained that the state had to release the water out of compulsion. “Through our advocate we have got information that Tamil Nadu is planning to lodge a contempt petition against the state of Karnataka for not releasing water. As per the expert committee’s suggestion, we took a decision to release water from Thursday to Tamil Nadu,” he explained.

He said even opposition leader Siddaramaiah agreed that state should initiate steps keeping the long-term interests of Karnataka in mind. Hence, water is being released, he said. The opposition termed the move a betrayal of the state’s farmers by the government. The house witnessed uproarious scenes. When chaotic conditions continued, the proceedings had to be adjourned till Monday. Release of water to TN evokes fresh protests