Madurai, May 3: Union Defence Minister and senior BJP leader Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said the Centre could not take any unilateral decision on constituting the Cauvery Management Board (CMB).
Talking to media here, Ms Sitharaman said that the Central government will constitute the CMB in consultation with the Cauvery river riparian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Puducherry and Kerala and cannot act arbitrarily in the water dispute.
She also dismissed the allegations of Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu that the BJP government at the Centre was purposely delaying the setting up of CMB in view of Karnataka state assembly elections. The same opposition parties (DMK and its allies), when they were in power at the Centre, had not taken any steps to solve the Cauvery issue, she said.
Ms.Nirmala recalled that the Centre had convened an official meeting of Cauvery river riparian states on March nine on formation of CMB for overseeing the sharing of Cauvery water as per the quantum awarded to each state.
