The Opposition BJP has accused the Congress government of deceiving Karnataka farmers by “not presenting effective arguments before the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA)” and facilitating the release of water to Tamil Nadu “to please the party high command and the alliance partner in that State”.

In a social media post, Leader of the Opposition R. Ashok expressed concern over the Cauvery Water Management Authority upholding the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee’s direction to Karnataka to release water to Tamil Nadu at a rate of 12,000 cusecs for the next 15 days at a time when Karnataka is facing poor storage in its reservoirs.

Mr. Ashok alleged that the Karnataka Congress had sacrificed the interests of the State’s farmers at the behest of the Congress high command and its top leader, Rahul Gandhi, to appease its alliance partner, TVK.

He urged the government to stop any flows from Cauvery reservoirs to Tamil Nadu immediately. He demanded that the government immediately convene a meeting of irrigation and legal experts to decide its next course of legal action in the Supreme Court to protect the State’s interests.