Took irrigation portfolio to ensure Mekedatu project is implemented: Shivakumar

Bengaluru, March 22 (IANS) The Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, D. K. Shivakumar, said on Thursday that he has kept the irrigation portfolio with himself to ensure that the Mekedatu project is implemented.

Replying to a query on INDIA bloc ally DMK's declaration that it won’t allow the Mekedatu project by Karnataka to take off, Shivakumar said, “It is the stand of the DMK. It is their desire and political wish, and I don’t want to comment on it. I took the Ministry of Irrigation to ensure that the Mekedatu project is implemented.

"We want to help Tamil Nadu as well. We will release 177 TMC of water, as Karnataka stands committed to the court order. At the same time, we want to help the people of Bengaluru, who have come from all over the country."

Shivakumar, who's also the Karnataka Congress chief, said the aim is to provide clean drinking water to people from Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Northeast, and North India states who have settled in Bengaluru.

“Let them (DMK) carry out their struggle. The case is coming up before the managing authority. I am confident of getting justice for Karnataka. The committee has an understanding of the prevailing situation in the state, and it is willing to render justice. I have full faith that we will get justice in all the courts,” Shivakumar said.

Meanwhile, the BJP has slammed the Congress-led Karnataka government after the DMK in its poll manifesto promised that it won't let the implementation of the Mekedatu project by Karnataka.

BJP's Leader of Opposition R. Ashoka said that the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu, an alliance partner in the INDIA bloc, has announced in its manifesto that if the opposition comes to power at the Centre, it won't allow the Mekedatu project to be implemented by Karnataka at any cost.

"Deputy CM Shivakumar, will you now take your MLAs to Chennai and stage a protest there? Or will you compromise the interest of the Kannada people for the sake of Rahul Gandhi," Ashoka asked.

"The Congress launched the 'Mekedatu Padayatra' promising that it will bring water to Bengaluru, only to fool the people of Karnataka. Now, the government is stabbing the people of Karnataka in the back," Ashoka said.

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