Urging the TVK government to take a firm stand against Karnataka's refusal to release Cauvery water, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Friday demanded for an immediate all-party meeting to protect the state's river rights and safeguard agricultural interests.
The former chief minister also demanded that the government fulfill its 2026 electoral promises by granting a full waiver of cooperative agricultural loans in the upcoming Agriculture Budget.
"The Supreme Court has delivered a very clear verdict regarding the sharing of Cauvery waters among riparian states. According to this, Karnataka was supposed to release 9.19 TMC of water to Tamil Nadu in June, but released only 2.91 TMC. For July, 31.24 TMC was due, but Karnataka has failed to fulfill its monthly quota to date", he said in a statement.
The Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) had ordered Karnataka to release 3,500 cusecs of water daily from its reservoirs for 15 days starting July 29, the AIADMK chief said. "The Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) also instructed the Karnataka Congress government to execute this order".
"However, the Chief Minister of Karnataka (DK Shivakumar) has refused to implement the CWMA's orders and has announced an all-party meeting in Karnataka instead", he said adding, "he has even offered to take the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister (C Joseph Vijay) in a helicopter to inspect Karnataka's reservoirs if he visits Bengaluru for talks".
"Under these circumstances, if a dam is constructed at Mekedatu across the Cauvery, Tamil Nadu will not receive a single drop of water and over 20 districts dependent on the river for drinking water needs will face severe shortage, and the Delta districts will turn into desert", he claimed.
He strongly condemned the CM Vijay's "continued silence" regarding the Centre's reply on Mekedatu (that no consent of riparian states is required for the reservoir's construction), as well as the Karnataka CM's "defiance" of the CWMA orders.
"I urge the Tamil Nadu government to immediately convene an all-party meeting to discuss and protect the Cauvery river, the lifeline of Tamil Nadu farmers and to halt the Mekedatu project".
With regard to full waiver of cooperative agricultural loans in the upcoming Agriculture budget, Palaniswami said that during the 2026 elections, the TVK promised a complete waiver of cooperative farm loans for farmers holding under five acres of land, and a 50 per cent waiver for those with over five acres.
"However, after coming to power, the government staged a drama by announcing a full waiver only for marginal and small farmers with loans up to Rs 75,000, while capping the relief at just Rs 35,000 for those owing higher amounts", he alleged.
Claiming that farmers across Tamil Nadu have been staging continuous demonstrations protesting this "deceptive" announcement, he said, "the TVK government must announce a complete waiver of all cooperative agricultural loans as promised in its election manifesto, when presenting the Agriculture Budget on August 6, 2026 and failing this, the AIADMK will launch massive state-wide agitations against the ruling coalition".
