Shiv Sena: Amit Shah's silence on Mahadayi dispute admission of 'guilt'

BJP National President Amit Shah addresses party workers near Panaji, Goa on Sunday. Pic/PTI

The Shiv Sena today hit out at BJP president Amit Shah over his silence on the Mahadayi water dispute while delivering a speech to party workers here yesterday.

Karnataka and Goa are locked in a dispute over the sharing of the waters of Mahadayi river (called Mandovi in Goa) and the matter is being heard by the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal. Accusing the BJP of politicising the issue during the campaign phase of the Karnataka Assembly polls, the Sena said that Shah's silence on the dispute, while in Goa, was an admission of "guilt".

Earlier, opposition parties had accused Shah of promising Karnataka voters that the river's water would be diverted to the southern state if the party was elected to power there. The results of the Karnataka Assembly polls will be announced tomorrow.

"It was expected that Amit Shah would make some statement on Mahadayi during his speech yesterday. Shah should have clarified the BJP's stand on the river water dispute," Senas Goa spokesperson Rakhi Naik Prabhudesai said in a statement issued here.

"Right from the time when Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar agreed to share Mahadayi water with Karnataka to the time when Shah assured people there of water within six months, if they are elected to power, Sena has been following up on the issue every day," Naik said. She also said that Shah just made a passing reference to the mining crisis currently on in the state following the quashing of 88 mining leases by the Supreme Court.

"Just two sentences, that a solution would be found for it through court, was all he said. It is an issue that affects the livelihood of around three lakh people. The BJP is not serious about the issue," she alleged.

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