TRICHY: Deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam on Wednesday launched a broadside against former chief minister M Karunanidhi for allegedly betraying Tamil Nadu in the Cauvery water issue. He was speaking at the public meeting organised by AIADMK at Nagappattinam to exert pressure on the Centre to form the Cauvery management board (CMB).Listing out various instances where the DMK government led by Karunanadhi allegedly failed to capitalize on opportunities to swing the Cauvery dispute in the state's favour in the past 40 years, OPS blamed it all on the "vested interests" of the DMK chief."Karunanidhi as the chief minister remained silent when Karnataka started building dams across Hemavathi, Kabini and Herangi rivers against the 1924 accord between the two states. He had not even expressed objection to it in the assembly in 1970. He had withdrawn the cases against their violation in the court because of Sarkaria commission inquiry against him," he alleged. Panneerselvam utilised much of his 20-minute speech to attack the ailing DMK chief over the Cauvery issue.He also criticized the series of protests led by DMK working president M K Stalin. "Even though the power was with the Congress at the Centre and the DMK in the state, they did nothing to get the rightful share of Cauvery water from Karnataka. Now he walks, pedals and forms human chain for Cauvery. But both the Congress and the DMK have no locus standi to ask for it," the deputy chief minister said while recalling efforts made by former chief minister J Jayalalithaa to get the final verdict of Cauvery water tribunal gazetted by the central government.Amidst criticism that the state government was soft on the central government on the Cauvery row, OPS said that their government would take appropriate steps to get the CMB formed.

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