Chennai:

Ahead of chief minister and DMK president M Okay Stalin’s participation within the Bengaluru assembly of opposition leaders, Tamil Nadu unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party mentioned on Sunday that Stalin and state Congress chief Okay S Alagiri have to come back again from the assembly with an assurance that Karnataka won’t assemble the Mekedatu dam.

“Let Stalin and Alagiri go and firmly say that we will not allow Mekedatu to be constructed and finalise that Karnataka will not build it,” mentioned Pon Radhakrishnan, former chief of the state BJP unit. “And then you can solve whatever problems you all have amongst yourselves in your (opposition) meeting. You are going to say zindabad for your own interests. While you are at it, also say zindabad for Tamil Nadu.”

Before DMK’s ally Congress fashioned the federal government in Karnataka in May, the Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP had opposed Mekedatu dam at the same time as their occasion was governing in Karnataka. The problem flared up once more just lately after Karnataka water assets minister D Okay Shivakumar mentioned in June that they are going to go forward with the controversial Mekedatu balancing reservoir-cum-drinking water venture which is proposed to generate 400 MW of energy and moreover provide 4.75 tmcft of water for consuming and home wants in Karnataka, significantly Bengaluru.

BJP’s state president Okay Annamalai had at the moment warned of a protest if Stalin attends the Bengaluru assembly given the Congress-led Karnataka’s stand to construct the Mekedatu dam on the Cauvery river which is towards the pursuits of Tamil Nadu.

While Karnataka awaits central clearances to begin development, Tamil Nadu, because the decrease riparian state, has argued that it’s towards federal ideas for Karnataka, the higher riparian state, to go forward with out its consent. Stating that the dam would impound and divert uncontrolled flows from the intermediate catchment beneath the Krishnaraja Sagar and Kabini reservoirs, and Billigundulu which is a standard border of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, the state believes it will have an effect on its agrarian group.

A senior DMK chief cited Stalin and water assets minister Durai Murugan’s assertion in response to Shivakumar that Tamil Nadu won’t enable Mekedatu. “We have repeatedly clarified our stance even to our ally Congress that we will not allow it,” the chief mentioned. “The BJP is now afraid about the unity among non-BJP leaders and our leader (Stalin) is playing a very important part to defeat them (BJP) in the 2024 elections.”

The Bengaluru assembly is the second amongst opposition events throughout India after Bihar CM Nitish Kumar held the primary assembly in Patna on June 23.

Meanwhile, the BJP’s ally AIADMK alleged that Stalin’s solely jobs appears to be both erecting statues of his father late M Karunanidhi or naming monuments after his father. On July 16, Stalin had inaugurated the Kalaignar (which means artiste is how Karunanidhi is revered) Centenary Library in Madurai at a price of ₹218 crore.

The library might have been named after Thiruvalluvar or different Tamil philosophers, the AIADMK mentioned on Sunday, additionally hoping that the Supreme Court provides a verdict towards the pen memorial deliberate for Karunanidhi within the ocean on the Marina seashore in Chennai.

“Let the DMK use their own money to erect a pen monument for their leader inside their party office. Why dump ₹80-crore into the ocean for the monument when that money can be directed for the development of Chennai,” mentioned AIADMK spokesperson D Jayakumar. He was talking after AIADMK basic secretary Edappadi Palaniswami held a gathering with senior leaders in Chennai.

“The meeting was to discuss the party’s plan for the mega conference we are holding in Madurai on August 20,” mentioned a pacesetter who participated within the assembly, not wishing to be named. Two days in the past Palaniswami wrote a letter to the occasion cadre accusing the DMK of working just for their household welfare. “I want you all to make the Madurai conference a turning point for our party,” he had mentioned.

In line with Palaniswami’s letter, Jayakumar on Sunday mentioned, “The only thing happening across Tamil Nadu is that Karunanidhi’s statue is coming up here and there. Stalin is doing only this job as a chief minister. His second job is corruption with an intention to help only his family grow.”

The DMK chief quoted above dismissed AIADMK’s allegations. “We got CRZ clearance last month for the pen monument and the case is in the Supreme Court now,” he mentioned. “We have addressed environmental concerns in our affidavit. Let’s wait for the outcome.”