Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Friday defended his government’s abandoned effort to initiate direct political talks with Karnataka over the Cauvery water-sharing dispute. Speaking in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, Vijay said the proposal to visit Bengaluru and explore dialogue with the neighbouring state had originated with him.

“It was I who first thought of and proposed the Bengaluru visit,” Vijay said while replying to a special calling attention motion concerning the Cauvery dispute and Karnataka’s proposed Mekedatu balancing reservoir. He acknowledged that the initiative had generated sharply divided opinions even before the proposed engagement was eventually shelved.

The chief minister said his government had not intended to weaken or abandon Tamil Nadu’s longstanding legal position on Cauvery water. Instead, the proposed talks were conceived as an attempt to determine whether political dialogue could create even a limited opening for resolving an issue that has remained a source of tension between the two states for decades.

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Explaining the reasoning behind the initiative, Vijay argued that dialogue remains important even when relations between two sides are strained. He observed that even hostile nations attempt to resolve disputes through talks, suggesting that elected governments should also be willing to examine every possible avenue while protecting their respective states’ interests.

The attempted outreach drew criticism from opposition parties, which questioned its timing and possible implications for Tamil Nadu’s position. Without responding directly to individual attacks, Vijay maintained that his administration had remained consistent in pursuing the state’s rights through legal and institutional channels while simultaneously considering whether political engagement could produce progress.

The Cauvery dispute involves the allocation of river water among Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and other basin states, while Karnataka’s proposed Mekedatu reservoir has become another major point of disagreement. Vijay’s statement marked his most detailed explanation of the Bengaluru proposal, presenting it as a supplementary diplomatic effort rather than a departure from Tamil Nadu’s established legal strategy.

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