Former Karnataka chief minister S M Krishna on Thursday appealed to Tamil Nadu to cooperate in finding a consensus on the Hogenakkal project through talks.
"I met the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi yesterday and briefed him about objections being raised by Karnataka on the project and the remarks by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, which has sparked off agitation," Krishna, who now is in-charge of election management in Karnataka, said.
He said even as Tamil Nadu maintained that the project was purely to meet drinking water needs, there are certain procedures which had to be followed up since it involved inter-state river, a dispute pending between the states for years.
"Tamil Nadu should cooperate with Karnataka in finding a consensus on the Hogenakkal project through talks as it is in the interest of both the states," he said and noted that the project was cleared by the National Democratic Alliance regime.
The former Maharashtra governor suggested that none from either side should indulge in provocative speeches, a charge which has already been denied by Karunanidhi in his letter to the Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, former Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president B Janardhana Poojary at a separate press conference blamed the NDA government led by A B Vajpayee and the Janata Dal ministry headed by the then chief minister late J H Patel for the present crisis.
"While NDA government cleared it, Patel supported it," Poojary charged. The BJP has no right to protest on the issue now, he said.