Annamalai slams Stalin for not condemning Karnataka on Mekedatu issue

Chennai: Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai on Monday claimed Chief Minister M K Stalin would be compromising on state's rights if he attended the opposition parties' meeting in Bengaluru in the wake of the Karnataka government's adamant stance to build the Mekedatu dam.

The party would stage a "Go back Stalin" agitation if the Chief Minister chose to attend the meet, he further said.

Flaying the Chief Minister for allegedly not condemning his ally in Karnataka, especially Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar for making Mekedatu dam an poll issue and also insisting on going ahead with the project, Annamalai said "the Chief minister lacks heart to condemn the Congress or Shivakumar but is keen on attending the opposition meeting thinking he will gain acceptance (at the national level)." Stalin feels that his stature will grow by attending such meetings, Annamalai told reporters here.

He sought to know if the Chief Minister would attend the meeting later this month by ceding Tamil Nadu's self-respect.

"Stalin has a right to attend but when he returns, I will lead a 'Go back Stalin' agitation in which the farmers and public would participate," the BJP state president said and asserted that unlike the DMK and its allies, his party never played politics on the Cauvery water issue which is the lifeline of Tamil Nadu farmers.

He claimed that the Union government had already made it clear that the dam project cannot be undertaken without the concurrence of the lower riparian states.