Bengaluru, DHNS: Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday said the Supreme Court order to release more Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu appears to be a conspiracy to bring a bad name to Bengaluru city.

Bengaluru is a fast-growing city. Investors will hesitate to come to Bengaluru if it has no drinking water.

So, the order appears to be a conspiracy to defame the city, he told reporters while staging a dharna along with Congress MPs from the state against the Supreme Court order to release water to Tamil Nadu, in front of the Gandhi statue at the Vidhana Soudha.

The MPs also opposed the court’s order directing the Centre to set up the Cauvery Management Board, saying it will be detrimental to the interests of farmers of the Cauvery basin. They demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention in resolving the issue.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah met senior Congress leader S M Krishna at his residence in Sadashivanagar here and discussed the Cauvery issue.

Krishna is learnt to have advised Siddaramaiah how to handle the situation and asked him to compensate farmers for the losses they have suffered due to crop failure.

After the meeting, Krishna told the media that the Supreme Court ordered the water release despite a water crisis in the Cauvery basin.

“The government has, therefore, taken the right decision by deferring the release of water. The right decision at this juncture is to go against the court order,” he added.

Earlier, Siddaramaiah met Governor Vajubhai Vala at the Raj Bhavan and apprised him of the steps taken by the government on the

Cauvery issue. Ministers T B Jayachandra, H C Mahadevappa and H S Mahadeva Prasad accompanied him.