Tamil Nadu ready for wait and watch approach on CMB

Chennai: Though the Tamil Nadu government has decided to adopt a wait and watch approach with regard to the Centre constituting the Cauvery Management Board (CMB), the issue rocked the Assembly on Thursday prompting the Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam to emphasise that the State government is firm on the Central government ensuring the CMB.

Responding to the issue raised by the Opposition leader M.K. Stalin in the Assembly on Thursday, Mr Panneerselvam said there was still time for the deadline fixed by the Supreme Court to draw to a close. “We will all decide at the end of the six-week deadline, if the Centre does not form the CMB,” Mr Panneerselvam said when Mr Stalin sought to know if the government would support the ‘no-confidence motion’ by the Andhra Pradesh government.

The Deputy CM informed that his government is exerting adequate pressure upon the Centre on the Cauvery issue and cited the persistent protests by party MPs in Parliament to indicate the efforts made by his party’s AIADMK MPs on the issue. He said the government was firm on its stand that the Centre must constitute the Cauvery Water Management Board and also Regulation Committee (CWRC).

The Telugu Desam Party had recently snapped its ties with the BJP-led government at the Centre over the issue of special category status for

Andhra Pradesh and moved the no-trust motion.

Mr Panneerselvam recalled the final verdict of the Supreme Court on the Cauvery issue on February 16 and said Tamil Nadu was steadfast on its demand for CMB and CWRC.

There was time till the end of the month for constituting CMB and CWRC and hinted that the government would formulate its move thereafter based on the Centre’s action.

The government would also involve the opposition to chalk out a strategy, he added. The AIADMK government had earlier convened a meeting of all political parties and farmers’ representatives on the subject and it was decided that an all-party delegation would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urge him to implement the apex court verdict.