Overview
- TNCC president B. Manickam Tagore publicly challenged the Tamil Nadu BJP to secure a public assurance from Karnataka leaders that the Mekedatu dam will not be built and reiterated that his party will oppose the project.
- Tagore blamed the Union government for allowing Karnataka to proceed with project planning and cited tribunal and Supreme Court rulings that say no new dam on the Cauvery should be built without Tamil Nadu’s consent.
- BJP state chief Nainar Nagenthran accused Tagore of staging a drama and practising double standards because the Congress has governed Karnataka in the past and now sits in Tamil Nadu’s coalition government.
- There is no sign of intergovernmental talks or a formal resolution reported so far, and both sides have confined their responses to public statements and political challenges.
- Mekedatu remains a long-running flashpoint because Tamil Nadu worries a new reservoir could cut downstream water for irrigation and drinking, and the dispute now functions as a party-political issue ahead of state-level contests.