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NEW DELHI: Renowned Kannada actor-turned-politician MH Ambareesh
has quit as the minister of state for information and broadcasting
and also his seat in the Lok Sabha protesting that the Cauvery
Water Disputes Tribunal had been ''unfair'' to Karnataka in
its final verdict.
Ambareesh announced in Bangalore yesterday that he had sent
his resignation both to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee
as well as Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, and also sent
a copy to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
However, his resignation was rejected Chatterjee on technical
grounds. The Speaker's office contended that Ambareesh had
faxed the resignation, which was not the acceptable method
of putting in papers, even as his fans also urged him to withdraw
the resignation.
Ambareesh announced the resignation following pressure by
people in his constituency Mandya when he was gheraoed by
lawyers when he came to participate in a function in the Karnataka
High Court here to release a special cover and cancellation
of the Postal department to commemorate the golden jubilee
of the High Court.
Holding that the Tribunal had caused "injustice"
to the southern state, he complimented the lawyers for taking
up the cause of the state. Congress circles in the state were
caught complete unawares by his move.
Karnataka had been witnessing widespread protests after the
5 February Tribunal award, which directed Karnataka to release
192 tmc ft of water to Tamil Nadu, pegging the state's requirement
at 270 tmc ft as against 419 tmc ft of the lower riparian
state.
The star, who was elected from the Mandya Lok Sabha constituency
for a third time in 2004, had led a procession of cine artistes
against the award in the city yesterday.
Meanwhile, G Made Gowda, president of the Cauvery Hitarakshana
Horata Samiti, which is spearheading the agitation on the
water sharing issue, termed the resignation of Ambareesh as
a hasty decision and said the star should continue as a minister
and fight for the water rights of the state.
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