PTI
NEW DELHI
Congress in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday sought the immediate intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in resolving the drinking water problem in Karnataka.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, S P Muddahanumegowda said people in the state, particularly in the northern region, were facing a severe water crisis.
Karnataka is seeking water from Mahadayi river for meeting drinking water requirements in its northern parts, where it has become an emotive political issue.
"Prime Minister''s intervention is required to resolve this issue. I request the Prime Minister to immediately intervene and see that this water dispute is resolved," he said.
Responding to the matter, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has already written a letter to former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa for outside negotiations to resolve the matter.
At this, Congress members started noisy scenes asking why the letter was written to a former chief minister.
Parrikar, in a letter to Yeddyurappa on December 21 last year, had said, in principle, Goa would not oppose the "reasonable" and "justified" quantum of water to be used for drinking purposes while pointing out that the matter was pending before the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal. Meanwhile, in Panaji, State Congress president Shantaram Naik said Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar was in trouble and had become "nervous" after his letter to Karnataka BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa backfired,
Naik also dared Parrikar to make public the alleged letter which he keeps talking about when saying that the Congress compromised on the issue.
"Manohar Parrikar is in trouble, because of the letter he has written to Yeddyurappa, (because he has) contacted Amit Shah and now his final stand is that all talks will be after Karnataka elections, why change the stand now?" Naik asked.
"First you (Parrikar) were all set to create profit for yourselves and your party and why change now? He has betrayed Goa and people know this so he is nervous," Naik said while questioning what sort of authority did Yeddyurappa hold that he needed to be a recipient of the CM's letter.
"Who is Yeddyurappa, he went to jail for many months. Is he a person in authority? You are going to be speaking to him?" Naik said.
Referring to the accusation that the Congress had compromised, Naik said: "If we had compromised. Goa's case would have become weak. Today the case is strong. Nadkarni has said that the case is strong and that we will win, so how can you say it is a compromise?"
Speaking on the occasion Leader of Opposition Chandrakant "Babu" Kavlekar said that the CLP had taken a resolution that there should be no change in the government's stand.
"The CLP has taken a decision that the stand of the Goa government should not change and should be maintained how all the previous governments, be they BJP or Congress has maintained it," Kavlekar said.
The party has also reiterated its stand that only coal being consumed in Goa should be allowed to be imported in Goa.
"We do not want Goa to become a corridor for coal," Shantaram Naik said.
"We have taken a decision that coal that is used for local units should be allowed in Goa. For consumption of local our policy is to allow only that. Goa should not be a corridor for transportation of coal," Naik said.
"He wanted to favour Adani, (for the BJP) Adani is a god. All election finance at the national level is arranged by Adani, 101%. Jindal is a minor person for them. Adani has a major share in financing BJP election," Naik said adding that no matter who the importer is Congress stand was the same that coal should be imported only for units in Goa.
