Karnataka CM raising Mekedatu dam issue for political gain: Anbumani Ramadoss

Pattali Makkal Katchi president Anbumani Ramadoss, on Thursday (July 2, 2026), said Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar was speaking about Mekedatu dam for political gain, as the proposed dam comes under his Kanakapura Assembly constituency.

Dr. Anbumani was in Salem as part of his padayatra against the proposed Mekedatu dam. Speaking to reporters, Dr. Anbumani said that to supply drinking water to Bengaluru, Karnataka needs five TMC of water, but they planned to construct the Mekedatu dam with a 70 TMC capacity.

Karnataka Chief Minister was uttering a lie that the dam was for only drinking-water purposes. In 1974, the total land in Karnataka that got irrigation facilities through River Cauvery were 6.7 lakh acres but now it has increased to 21 lakh acres. In 1974, it was 29 lakh acres in Tamil Nadu and now it is 20 lakh acres only. Over 5.50 crore people are receiving water for drinking and irrigation through the Cauvery River in Tamil Nadu, Dr. Anbumani pointed out.

Demanding all MPs and MLAs to meet the Prime Minister and Jal Shakti Minister opposing the Mekedatu project, he said that continuous pressure should be given and many cases should be filed against this project. The Union government would not oppose this project.

Demanding to withdraw the amendment in a resolution passed in the Tamil Nadu Assembly for a tribunal in the Mekedatu issue, Dr. Anbumani said that Congress senior leader Rahul Gandhi, who opposed the Great Nicobar Island Development Project, as forest would be destroyed for this project, should also oppose the Mekedatu project, which would destroy 12,500 acres of forest. In the past 50 years, the Dravidian parties that ruled Tamil Nadu did not give importance to water projects, the PMK president charged.