Yediyurappa meets BJP leaders,discusses one-year of coalition

New Delhi, Feb 12 (UNI) Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa today called on top BJP leaders to apprise them of the latest on the Cauvery issue and the completion of one year of the BJP-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition in the state.

The Deputy Chief Minister, who met BJP President Rajnath Singh and BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley this evening, told UNI that he would be meeting former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and senior BJP leader L K Advani also.

He said he was happy about the way the coalition had functioned between the two parties and saw no problems for completing rest of the 27 months.

Mr Yediyurappa also saw no problems in the transition of power from the JD(S) to BJP after the present government, under Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, completed its 20 months in office. Under the agreement between the two parties, the BJP is to have the Chief Ministership for the last 20 months of the present Assembly term.

On the Karnataka bandh to protest against the final orders of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, Mr Yediyurappa said the state did not get a fair deal and an all-party meeting will be held before taking a decision on appealing against the verdict before the Tribunal or before the Supreme Court.

The Centre should intervene and protect the people and farmers of Karnataka to ensure a fair deal in the river water sharing, he added.

The Tribunal in its order has provided 419 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu while Karnataka has been granted 270 tmcft of the total 740 tmcft of Cauvery waters. Karnataka is also obliged to ensure 192 tmcft of water at Biligundlu, the last point of river Cauvery.

UNI