New Delhi, DHNS: Ailing Jaya nominates minister Palanisamy for the meeting. The Centre has convened a meeting of chief ministers of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu on Thursday at Delhi to discuss the Cauvery water sharing dispute.

Union Water Resources Secretary Shashi Shekhar on Tuesday evening sent intimation letters to the two chief ministers, requesting them to attend the meeting. However, the Centre is yet to decide who will chair the meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti.

“Though the Water Resources Minister has been chairing the meeting of chief ministers on the Mahanadhi row involving Chhattisgarh and Odisha and sharing of Krishna river water between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, it is still not clear who will chair the meeting on Cauvery,” said a senior official in the Ministry of Water Resources.

“There is also an opinion among a section of officers that the Home minister should chair the meeting as law and order issue is also involved. But the government will finalise on Wednesday, who will chair the meeting,” official said.

Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court asked the Centre to convene a meeting of the executive heads of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to solve the inter-state Cauvery row in next two days. Following the Supreme Court order, Uma Bharti held a meeting with officials and directed them to fix the meeting for Thursday.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, who is hosptialised for fever and dehydration has nominated Public Works Minister Edappadi S Palanisamy to represent her state at the meeting.

Earlier, the Congress MPs from Karnataka urged Modi to intervene in the issue.

“We have requested the prime minister to intervene in the matter immediately, call a meeting of the chief ministers and give directions to settle the Cauvery water dispute amicably,” Muddahanume Gowda, the Lok Sabha member from Tumakuru,?told reporters after the 11 MPs made a representation to Modi.