All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) MP A. Navaneethakrishnan on Wednesday said all AIADMK MPs will commit suicide if the Centre fails to constitute a Cauvery Management Board by the March 29 deadline set by the Supreme Court.
“There is a demand in Tamil Nadu that AIADMK MPs should resign. We are ready to commit suicide if the Union government does not implement the SC ruling. All the AIADMK MPs will commit suicide,” Rajya Sabha floor leader of the party Navaneethakrishnan told The Hindu . The party has 13 members in the Rajya Sabha and 37 in the Lok Sabha.
He said the Supreme Court judgment came after decades and it was clear that the Centre had only six weeks. “The SC judgment was independent of the fact that Karnataka Assembly elections are going to be held. The Union government cannot delay the decision just to please their constituency in Karnataka,” he added.
He said that in rural Tamil Nadu, people did not have even water for their basic needs. “The Union government cannot sit on the judgment indefinitely,” he added.
Protests from day one
The AIADMK has been protesting since Parliament reconvened for the second part of the budget session on March 5. They have been stalling any debate in both Houses.
On Tuesday, in Rajya Sabha, the AIADMK gave a reprieve by halting their protests for speeches of retiring members. Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien allowed Mr. Navaneethakrishnan to make a brief intervention on the issue at 3.40 p.m. when the Rajya Sabha reconvened after lunch break.
“A serious problem is going on. The rule of law has become an empty phrase. Our Constitution has failed. The Central government has resisted implementing the Supreme Court order, Article 141 has become meaningless,” he said.
The Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, in 2013, recommended a board to take over the operation of the Cauvery reservoirs from Karnataka. The board was to be bound by the tribunal order to release the stipulated quantity of water every month.
Following this,in its February 16 Cauvery verdict, the Supreme Court directed the Centre to formulate a ‘scheme’ as per the Inter-State Water Disputes Act, 1956. Under Section 6(2) of the Act, the Union government must frame a scheme for establishing an “authority” for the implementation of the tribunal award.
