Watch: Vijay should avoid going to Karnataka for talks on Mekedatu dam: Anbumani Ramadoss

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, on Tuesday (July 28, 2026), wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention to ensure no statutory or administrative approval is granted to the Mekedatu project unless it is demonstrably consistent with the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) Award and the judgment of the Supreme Court.

Mr. Vijay also called for withdrawal of the reply given by the Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti Raj Bhushan Choudhary in Rajya Sabha on July 27 with regard to the Mekedatu project. The Minister had said the judgment of the Supreme Court on February 16, 2018, does not expressly stipulate that Karnataka should obtain the consent of the lower riparian States before constructing a structure across the Cauvery. Mr Vijay said the Minister's reply was made without referring to the settled law and legal principles in inter-State water issues.

In his letter, the Chief Minister said, “This disappointing reply from the Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti seems to have been made without taking into consideration the prevailing legal position and settled law with regard to the consent of the lower riparian States.”