Karnataka govt betraying state's interests by releasing Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu: BJP

Bengaluru: Senior BJP leader, R. Ashoka, alleged on Saturday that the Karnataka government was betraying the interests of Kannadigas by releasing Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.

In a strongly-worded statement on Saturday, Ashoka accused the state government of sacrificing the interests of farmers and people of Karnataka, claiming that the state was facing a shortage of drinking water, agricultural lands were not receiving adequate water and water levels in reservoirs were declining.

The BJP leader alleged that the state government had completely failed to effectively represent Karnataka’s case at the meetings of the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee and the Cauvery Water Management Authority. It claimed that the government’s failure to convince the authorities about the prevailing ground realities had resulted in Karnataka being required to release 3,000 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu for the next 15 days despite the severe drought situation.

Accusing the state government of lacking political will, the BJP alleged that Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar was more concerned about pleasing the Congress high command and had completely surrendered to alliance politics involving Tamil Nadu.

The party claimed that the government had shown little concern for protecting the interests of Kannadigas and had remained silent even as Karnataka’s objections were allegedly disregarded. It described the government as a major burden on the people of the state.

Accusing the government of compromising Karnataka’s interests for political considerations, the party said the Cauvery River, which it described as the lifeline of Kannadigas, was being diverted to another state at the expense of the people and farmers of Karnataka.

Further, Leader of the Opposition R. Ashoka has accused the government in Karnataka of putting the education of poor and meritorious students at serious risk due to its misgovernance, irresponsibility and negligence.

Ashoka alleged that even five months after the commencement of the current academic year, universities had failed to upload students’ details on the State Scholarship Portal (SSP), jeopardising their chances of receiving scholarships.

Ashoka said only five days remained for students to submit their scholarship applications, while thousands of students were struggling amid fears of missing out on scholarships because their details were unavailable on the website.

He alleged that the government had shown no concern for the future of poor students and was pushing students belonging to Scheduled Castes, backward classes and minority communities into uncertainty through its negligence.

He demanded that the government immediately wake up to the situation, extend the deadline for submitting scholarship applications and take stringent action against those responsible for the universities’ negligence.

Ashoka warned that the student community in the state would teach the government a fitting lesson if it failed to act immediately.

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