The ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu on Sunday joined hands with its rival, the DMK, on the Cauvery water issue.
The AIADMK's Rajya Sabha members will join the DMK-led all-party delegation that will meet the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on June 8 to demand Cauvery water from Karnataka.
The Cauvery Water Dispute Homepage
Replying to the letter from DMK leader Durai Murugan, AIADMK presidium chairman C Ponnaiyan said in a statement, "In the interest of the farmers of the Cauvery delta region, AIADMK general secretary and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has decided to direct the Rajya Sabha members of the AIADMK party to join the delegation."
In the recent Lok Sabha polls, the AIADMK-BJP combine was routed in all the 40 constituencies in Tamil Nadu and the lone seat in Pondicherry. It thus has no representation in the Lok Sabha.
Ponnaiyan said AIADMK parliamentary party leader P G Narayanan would get in touch with Murugan.
Ponnaiyan took objection to Murugan's observations in his letter that the decision to send a delegation was decided "unanimously by all political parties".
"The AIADMK was not invited to the meeting and was not consulted at all even though AIADMK is the single largest party in the assembly and indeed in Tamil Nadu itself," Ponnaiyan said.
In the past, it was the practice of both the DMK and the AIADMK not to join the delegations taken out by either of these parties on the Cauvery issue.