The Cauvery water-sharing dispute has sparked a fresh political confrontation in Tamil Nadu, with the Congress launching a sharp attack on the BJP and accusing the party of speaking in different voices across state borders.
Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president Manickam Tagore has questioned the BJP’s commitment to Tamil Nadu’s water interests, alleging that the party adopts one position in Karnataka and another in Tamil Nadu for political convenience.
In a strongly worded post on X, Tagore targeted Tamil Nadu BJP president Nainar Nagenthran with a series of questions, asking whether the state unit had ever directly raised Tamil Nadu’s demand for its share of Cauvery water with Prime Minister Narendra Modi or the BJP-led Union government.
The Congress leader pointed to protests by BJP leaders in Karnataka, including former chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa, who had opposed the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. Tagore questioned whether the Tamil Nadu BJP leadership had challenged its Karnataka counterparts over their stand.
“Did you not see BJP leaders, including Yediyurappa, taking to the streets in Karnataka saying that not even a drop of water should be released to Tamil Nadu?” Tagore asked, referring to photographs and social media posts of the demonstrations.
He accused the BJP of maintaining a political balancing act – opposing Tamil Nadu’s water claims in Karnataka while attempting to project itself as a defender of the state’s interests in Tamil Nadu.
Tagore further challenged Nagenthran to clarify whether he had confronted BJP leaders in Karnataka or urged the Centre to intervene to safeguard Tamil Nadu’s share of the river waters.
“Have you ever spoken even a single word to Prime Minister Modi or the BJP government at the Centre about securing Tamil Nadu’s rightful water share?” he asked.
The Congress leader alleged that farmers in Tamil Nadu were closely watching what he described as the BJP’s “political drama” over the Cauvery issue, claiming that the party was using the dispute for electoral gains rather than addressing the concerns of farmers dependent on the river.
Calling the BJP’s approach a “naked double standard”, Tagore accused the party of failing to protect Tamil Nadu’s interests while shifting blame onto others over the long-running water dispute.
The remarks come amid renewed political friction over the Cauvery issue, which remains one of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka’s most sensitive interstate disputes, with farmers on both sides closely watching developments over water releases and allocations.