Krishna to convene all-party meet to discuss river issue

Krishna to convene all-party meet to discuss river issue
UNITED NEWS OF INDIA

BANGALORE, JANUARY 10: Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna on Tuesday said he will convene a meeting of opposition parties next month to arrive at a consensus on seeking time to extend the deadline for utilising the state's share of the Krishna waters beyond May.

Talking to newsmen here, he said the state should create the necessary infrastructure to utilise its share of 729 tmc ft of the Krishna waters before May 31. All the opposition parties would be taken into confidence on the issue of extending the deadline, he added.

Krishna accused the centre of supporting Andhra Pradesh, which he said was resorting to illegal methods to prevent Karnataka from utilising its share of the Krishna waters.

He also recalled the letter he had written to the Prime Minister seeking setting up of an authority under the inter-state river Water Dispute Act.On the controversial Mangalore power project promoted by the US multinational Cogentrix, Krishna said the government would wait for the report of the expert committeewhich had commenced its work a week ago. The committee was to give its report in a month's time.

He said the party would announce its candidate for the February 17 byelection to the Bellary Lok Sabha constituency only after the notification was issued. The bypoll was necessitated following the resignation of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who had decided to retain the Amethi seat.

Replying to a question he said there was no going back on the government's decision to hold gram panchayat elections. It would not not come in the way of state election commission announcing the dates for the elections. He said Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister M Y Ghorpade had clarified that he had not threatened to quit the ministry if the elections were postponed.