BJP slams DMK for calling all party meet on Cauvery

Minister of State Pon Radhakrishnan demanded a White Paper on the Cauvery issue and the role of Congress and the DMK on it.

Nagercoil (TN): BJP on Saturday hit out at DMK's decision to convene an all party meet on the Cauvery issue, saying it had no moral right to do so as it, along with Congress, were responsible for the problem.

"If the Cauvery issue is so complex... The DMK which was in power in Tamil Nadu and Congress, which ruled in Delhi and Karnataka are responsible...Nobody can deny that. DMK has no moral right to convene an all party meet on the issue," Minister of State Pon Radhakrishnan told reporters.

He was reacting to DMK's decision earlier in the day to convene an all party meet in Chennai on October 25 to discuss the Cauvery issue.

The MoS demanded a White Paper on the Cauvery issue and the role of Congress and the DMK on it.

He said the union government was handling the issue carefully to rectify the mistakes committed during the decades old Cauvery water dispute.

Targeting the Congress government in Karnataka on Cauvery, he claimed it was becoming unpopular and facing defeat after defeat.

"Now the Congress government in Karnataka wants to get rid of problems surrounding it and get people's sympathy,"he said.

When BJP was in power in Karnataka it had handled the issue "smoothly" and Tamil Nadu unit of the party also took up the matter with the high command.

But Congress leaders in Tamil Nadu, instead of taking up their high command, the issue of water release from party ruled Karnataka, were issuing contradictory statements.

He also wished speedy recovery for Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, who has been hospitalised since September 22.

To a question, he said BJP would soon announce its candidates for the November 19 bypolls to three assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu.