DMDK General Secretary and Dharmapuri MLA Premalatha Vijayakanth on 2 August called on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Joseph Vijay to convene an all-party meeting on the Cauvery water dispute and personally lead a delegation to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stressing that both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka must pursue equitable water sharing without causing harm to either state.

DMDK's Stand on the Cauvery Dispute

Premalatha Vijayakanth made clear that the Desia Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) stands firmly with Tamil Nadu farmers and the people of the state on the Cauvery issue. She noted that the Kuruvai crop season has concluded and samba cultivation is now underway, making timely water release critical for agriculture.

'We have not betrayed Karnataka in raising this issue. Protests are taking place there as well. Water should be supplied in a way that does not affect either state. This is not an India-Pakistan issue,' she said.

River Linking and the Case for a National Push

Premalatha also renewed the DMDK's long-standing demand for a river-linking project, arguing that floodwaters flowing away in northern states represent a wasted resource. She urged Chief Minister Vijay to press the Centre on this issue directly, calling it a structural solution to recurring water disputes rather than a seasonal fix.

'The Chief Minister Joseph Vijay should convene an all-party meeting and meet the Prime Minister to press for this project,' she said. She further urged Vijay to personally visit Karnataka for direct talks with his counterpart, and invited Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar to visit Tamil Nadu, with an assurance that the state government would provide full security.

Governance Beyond Chennai

The MLA pointed out that while Chief Minister Vijay regularly inspects Chennai, he has yet to visit the Cauvery basin areas, including Hogenakkal and Mettur, where farmers and communities are directly affected by the water crisis. 'Governance should not be limited to the metro and law-and-order issues alone,' she said.

On the upcoming Assembly session — scheduled to begin on the 5th — she said she would raise the demand of Dharmapuri district journalists for a meeting with Chief Minister Vijay. She also questioned whether the government's claims of curbing ganja in Chennai were matched by actual reductions in TASMAC outlets.

Power Cuts and Agricultural Concerns

Premalatha flagged a sharp deterioration in Tamil Nadu's power situation, noting that the state — once energy-surplus — is now seeing frequent outages and rising electricity tariffs. 'People are protesting because of frequent outages. Electricity tariffs have also gone up. The government should eliminate power cuts and reduce electricity charges,' she said.

On agriculture, she argued that practical policy measures must accompany any symbolic gestures, remarking that if the Agriculture Department chooses to present its budget in Tirupati believing divine blessings alone will drive farm prosperity, the government must equally focus on ground-level interventions that genuinely improve farmer welfare.

She concluded with a call for Tamil Nadu to become a water-surplus state, just as it once became power-surplus, through systematic conservation of available water resources to ensure self-sufficiency in both water and food production. Whether Chief Minister Vijay acts on these demands — particularly the all-party meeting and the PM visit — will be closely watched when the Assembly session opens.