Cauvery dispute: Will plead to reconsider the order passed, says Karnataka Law Minister

The Cauvery River originates in Karnataka but flows into Tamil Nadu and the matter of how much water each state should get has been a recurring dispute for decades.

New Delhi: Karnataka Law Minister TB Jayachandra on Thursday said they will attend the meeting organised by the Centre and will try to convince the committee to reconsider the order to release 6,000 cusecs of water for three days to Tamil Nadu.

"We will try to plead with them about the hardship that we are facing for drinking water. We will put this before them and we are very hopeful about the decision," said Jayachandra.

He said that as drinking water is the first priority, and irrigation comes next, so efforts will be made to impress this on the government.

Yesterday, the Karnataka government deferred the release of Cauvery waters by a day, stating that it was a unanimous decision taken by all political parties in the state.

The apex court on Tuesday directed the Karnataka government to release 6,000 cusecs of water till Friday.

The court also asked Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi to facilitate a meeting between the governments of the two states to find a solution to this long-standing problem.

The Karnataka government had said it was not in a position to release water to Tamil Nadu citing `acute shortage` of water.

The Tamil Nadu government, on the other hand, has said that Karnataka is acting as a judge in its own cause and refusing to comply with apex court orders that are sub-judice.

Over the past month, both states are fighting a legal battle in various courts over the sharing and distribution of Cauvery waters.