Seeking to downplay the statement of Tamil Nadu Minister Durai Murugan that they would not allow the Mekedatu project to come up, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Tuesday expressed confidence that Karnataka would get justice from the court.

Replying to queries on the statement by Mr. Murugan, Mr. Shivakumar, who also holds Major Irrigation portfolio, said: “Our water is our right. Tamil Nadu has taken its stand. Karnataka had several rounds of talks with Tamil Nadu when the late J.H. Patel was the Chief Minister. We have now approached the court from where we are confident of getting justice. Nobody can go against the court verdict. Let Tamil Nadu place its arguments before the court and we will place ours.”

Mr. Shivakumar denied allegations that the DPR with respect to the project was yet to be submitted to the authorities. When asked to comment on the BJP’s demand that he should convince his “friend” and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to give his consent for the Mekedatu project, he shot back wondering why former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who had promised to get the relevant clearances from the Centre for the project, had gone back on their words.

“There will be lot of a pressure in politics. But Mekedatu will help Tamil Nadu more than Karnataka in terms of conserving water that is getting wasted by flowing into the sea. In this context, I will appeal to Tamil Nadu to cooperate with us. Similarly, I have sought an appointment from Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister to hold consultations on sharing of Krishna waters,” he said.

Telephone tapping

When his attention was drawn on Opposition BJP’s allegation that telephones of prominent Congress leaders were being illegally tapped, Mr. Shivakumar said, “When I was in jail (in connection with money laundering case probed by ED), I had read a report that Adichunchanagiri swamiji Nirmalanandanatha’s phone had been tapped. After this, the CBI had conducted a probe into the issue. Let the BJP first make public the CBI probe report in this regard. Let us discuss the allegations of telephone tapping later.”