Bengaluru: Chief minister DK Shivakumar’s meeting with his Tamil Nadu counterpart C Joseph Vijay on Monday will be watched as much for its political symbolism as for its implications for the decades-old Cauvery dispute.Coming on the heels of Shivakumar’s consensus-building efforts on the Tungabhadra issue, the meeting offers a rare opportunity to revive direct political dialogue between Karnataka and TN after 14 years. Whether the dialogue survives the politics surrounding Cauvery remains to be seen.The significance goes beyond water sharing. Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam is an ally of Congress-led INDIA bloc, making this the first high-level engagement between two allies on the contentious issue.The last chief minister-level engagement on the dispute was in 2012, when BJP’s Jagadish Shettar met J Jayalalithaa. Since then, it has largely been confined to the Supreme Court, Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC).Since becoming CM, Shivakumar has adopted a consensus-first approach by engaging Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu, Telangana CM A Revanth Reddy along with Union jal shakti minister CR Patil on issues relating to the Tungabhadra reservoir and Krishna basin. Rather than escalating disputes, the four agreed to pursue coordinated water management, an approach now being viewed as a possible template for Cauvery.But Cauvery is far more politically combustible than Tungabhadra. The 1991 interim tribunal order triggered violence in Karnataka, while the drought years of 2002, 2012 and 2016 witnessed violent protests and bandhs after directions to release water to Tamil Nadu. Even after the Supreme Court’s final verdict in 2018, disputes have persisted.The proposed Mekedatu balancing reservoir remains another bone of contention, with TN strongly opposing the project even after the Centre clarified that Karnataka could proceed with statutory clearances as the project lies within its territory.The timing also makes the meeting politically delicate. Farmer protests have already begun after the CWRC directed the state to release 42,000 cusecs of water over the next 15 days, and Vijay has written to PM Narendra Modi opposing the Mekedatu project. The letter shows that despite their parties being allies, both CMs remain bound by their states’ competing interests.Farmer too have advocated reconciliation with representatives from Mandya and the Cauvery delta, including Tamil Nadu farmer leader P Ayyakannu, earlier appealing for cooperation. They argued that farmers on both sides were victims rather than adversaries. However, their call for scientific reservoir management and better coordination failed.Political analyst Vishwas Shetty said dialogue between CMs was preferable to prolonged litigation but maintained that Cauvery had become as much as an emotional and electoral issue as a water dispute. “Whatever happens on Monday will largely be political optics unless it leads to sustained engagement,” he said.Water policy expert S Vishwanath said climate change and recurring droughts made continuous political engagement essential and govts need to regularly exchange data and coordinate reservoir operations during distress years.Former CM Jagadish Shettar said: “I met Jayalalithaa in 2012 with the intention of building consensus as it was a distress year much like the present one. But the effort failed. I hope DK Shivakumar succeeds, as he did on the Tungabhadra issue, rather than settling for optics. However, there can be no compromise on Karnataka’s interests.”
