Tamil Nadu to convene all-party meet on Cauvery dispute

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Government has announced it will convene an all-party meeting to garner opinion on how the state should respond to the Supreme Court's verdict paring water release to the lower riparian state.

Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar announced the meet today amid similar efforts by opposition leader MK Stalin. After actor Kamal Haasan had met DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi at his Gopalapuram residence on Sunday evening, Stalin had informed the press that the actor has been extended an invite to be part of all party-meet galavanised by Stalin.

"After having discussed the way forward since 10 a.m. this morning, the chief minister has come to the conclusion that an all-party meeting should be held. We have decided to hold it on February 22," said D Jayakumar.


Just after the verdict, Stalin had begun urging the state government to cut across party lines on the dispute. Earlier, Stalin had met with the chief minister with a 27-point recommendation on how to pull the state-run bus transport corporation out of its financial crisis and roll back a recently announced rate hike. The all-party meeting is also a departure in the political culture in Tamil Nadu, where the arch-rivals DMK and AIADMK have often held opposite stances in eky political issues.