Mahadayi dispute: Manohar Parrikar makes u-turn

Bengaluru : Another major u-turn by Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, this time on the Mahadayi water dispute, has put the BJP-led coalition government in a spot, with critics accusing him of putting the state's natural resources at stake, merely to boost BJP's chances in the upcoming Karnataka polls.

Parrikar, after a meeting with party president Amit Shah and senior party colleague from Karnataka, B.S. Yeddyurappa in New Delhi earlier this week, agreed "on humanitarian grounds" to consider the southern state's need for drinking water, even as the matter is being heard by a Tribunal.

But his current intention of "resolving" the dispute is in sharp contrast to his own statements earlier, unequivocally opposing diversion of water for any purpose to Karnataka.Soon after becoming Chief Minister in 2012, Parrikar had asserted that he would not listen to his party's Central leadership, if they press him to sacrifice Goa's interests on the dispute.

Goa and Karnataka are currently battling out a dispute over the latter's controversial Kalsa-Bhandura dam project across the waters of the Mahadayi river at a central tribunal. Mahadayi, known as the Mandovi in Goa, is known as a lifeline in the northern Karnataka, where it originates, passes through Maharashtra briefly and drains into the Arabian Sea at Panaji.

While the river traverses 28.8 km in Karnataka, it runs through a length of 81.2 km in Goa. Karnataka plans to construct seven dams on the river, aimed at diverting 7.56 TMC water into its water-starved Malaprabha basin in North Karnataka.

"A promise to end the Mahadayi dispute and provision of drinking water will be a big plus during poll campaign in Karnataka. BJP leaders from Goa like Parrikarji are also expected to join the election campaign there and the promise of diversion of drinking water will be an attractive poll promise," a senior BJP leader said on condition of anonymity.

"Chief Minister's stand that in principle, Goa will not oppose reasonable and justified quantum of drinking water to Karnataka from Mahadayi on humanitarian grounds is unrealistic and will be harmful for the state," state Congress president Shantaram Naik told.