From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Jan 27: The all-party meeting convened by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to discuss the Mahadayi water sharing dispute two days after the successful Karnataka Bandh called farmers and pro-Kannada activists ended in a virtual slugfest between ruling Congress and Opposition BJP members with both sides hurling accusations against each other.

The meeting chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in Vidhana Soudha on Saturday to discuss the Mahadayi water sharing dispute with Goa ended in a deadlock without reaching any consensus even though Chief Minister said he will write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking latter’s intervention.

While Opposition BJP members wanted the ruling Congress leaders to first convince their party leaders in Goa to allow their Chief Minister Manohar Parikkar to settle the issue amicably, the JD(S) and the Congress leaders sought the Prime Minister’s intervention for amicable settlement of the dispute.

Karnataka has been appealing Goa to share 7.56 tmcft of water from Mahadayi water for drinking water purpose in drought-hit in Hubballi-Dharwad, Gadag, Bagalkote and Belagavi districts. Currently, the issue was pending before the Mahaydai Water Disputes Tribunal and Karnataka is keen on out-of-court settlement.

Siddaramaiah, who called the meeting after the State-wide bandh on Thursday seeking the Centre’s intervention to resolve the matter, said that he would write to Modi once again seeking his time to meet all-party delegation from the State.

The Chief Minister also said he would be ready to attend a meeting convened by Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parikkar in Goa to discuss the issues related to water sharing.

Earlier, Jagadish Shettar and K S Eshwarappa, leaders of the Opposition in the legislative assembly and council, respectively, and Dharwad MP Prahlad Joshi (BJP) indulged in a heated exchange with JD(S) MLA N H Konareddy when the latter said that the Prime Minister should convene a meeting of Chief Ministers of Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra for resolving the issue expeditiously.

The BJP leaders, particularly Shettar, took exception to Konareddy’s suggestion and told JD(S) and Congress leaders not to put pressure on Modi on the issue.

The BJP leaders said the Chief Minister should make efforts to convince the Congress leaders in Goa on sharing of water and bring them to the negotiating table.

In fact, Goa Water Resource Minister Vinod Palienkar has been opposing the sharing of water with Karnataka and abused Kannadigas for seeking water.

In August 2015, the Centre has asked the Congress leaders in Karnataka to convince its units in Goa and Maharashtra over the Mahadayi river dispute.

The Centre made this response in the wake of a visit by an all-party delegation led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to meet the Prime Minister on August 24, 2015, demanding an out-of-tribunal settlement to the Mahadayi river water dispute issue.

Several Ministers, including M B Patil, H K Patil, T B Jayachandra, attended the meeting.

BJP leaders Jagadish Shettar, K S Eshwarappa and Union Minister D V Sadananda Gowda participated. However, JD(S) leaders H D Kumaraswamy, Basavaraj Horatti, H D Revanna did not attend the meeting.