Not a single brick to be laid at Mekedatu sans TN’s consent: TNCC

THe Tamil Nadu us congress citizens committee (TNCC) on th made it top that it would non allow even a single brick to be laid by the neighbouring Karnataka government for the construction of a dam at Mekedatu across river Cauvery, “without the consent of Tamil Nadu.”A resolution to this effect was passed at a meeting chaired by newly appointed TNCC president B Manickam Tagore at the meeting of district Congress committee held at Satyamurthy Bhavan, the party headquarters in Chennai.Tagore presided over the meeting in which Congress Legislative Party leader and State tourism minister S Rajeshkumar attended it along with senior functionaries.One of the three resolutions that passed in the meeting was about Tamil Nadu’s dispute with Karnataka over the construction of Mekedatu dam.“The Karnataka government is making intensive efforts to construct a dam across the Cauvery river at Mekedatu. This attempt is not only against the 2018 final verdict of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and the Supreme Court but also constitutes contempt of court,” the resolution said.“The comments of TNCC President B Manickam Tagore that we will not permit even a single brick to be laid for the construction of the Mekedatu dam across the Cauvery without the consent of Tamil Nadu is a stance that this meeting highly welcomes and appreciates,” the resolution said.This meeting also firmly resolved that the State unit of the Congress would strongly “oppose”, and protest against the Karnataka government’s attempts to build a dam at Mekedatu in order to safeguard the rights of the farmers in the Cauvery delta region.On June 19, the Tamil Nadu assembly adopted a unanimous resolution against Karnataka’s move to construct a dam across river Cauvery at Mekedatu, expressing support for all measures undertaken by the state government on the issue.Chief minister C Joseph Vijay read the government resolution and members of the opposition including Leader of Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami spoke on the subject.The second resolution passed in the meeting praised chief minister C Joseph Vijay for “acting with composure” over the last two months, as he faces the challenge of the debt burden created by the DMK government on one side and the administrative hurdles faced with the Central government’s neglect of Tamil Nadu.“When observing all of this, it is evident that the chief minister is emerging as an irreplaceable political force in Tamil Nadu matching the legendary statures like the Kamaraj and M G Ramachandran,” it said.Even though he is new to governance, this meeting expresses its gratitude, appreciation, to the chief minister for functioning with a deep commitment to the development of Tamil Nadu, the resolution said.The Congress is one of the first political parties to forge an alliance with the TVK when it fell just short of 10 assembly seats to form the government.Congress had contested in 28 seats under the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) led Secular Progressive Alliance and had won in five assembly segments. Post declaration of the election results, it formed an alliance with TVK.The third resolution passed in the meeting said Tagore has a monumental task to utilise the rare chance to strengthen the foundational infrastructure of the Congress party.Congratulating Tagore on taking over as the TNCC President, the resolution said, after the Congress party lost power in Tamil Nadu in 1967, alliances were formed with Dravidian movements to establish governments.“Even though Congress was part of those alliances, it could not participate directly in governance. In such a historic turnaround, you have assumed leadership today at a time when two ministers from our party hold responsibilities in the TVK government,” it said.“The Congress leadership has presented you with a magnificent opportunity to usher in a new era that has not occurred in the last 60 years of Tamil Nadu’s history. This is a rare opportunity that no previous leader has received. A monumental task awaits you to utilise this rare chance to strengthen the foundational infrastructure of the Congress party”, it added.