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NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 25:

        With Cauvery waters being stirred again by a sequence of actions, Tamilnadu, whose actions seem less coordinated than Karnataka's, is now planning to work out a concerted plan of action at least in Parliament where the issue is planned to be raised by Karnataka.

        With former Prime Minister Deve Gowda making hectic campaign in New Delhi (he had met Sonia Gandhi twice and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh once) and also the fact that Karnataka MPs are going to rake up the issue in Parliament, the Tamilnadu MPs are scheduled to meet tomorrow at 12 noon at the Tamilnadu House to decide on a strategy.

        State PWD Minister Durai Murugan, who is leaving for the national capital this evening, will hear out the TN MPs tomorrow and then decide on the whole gamut of action plan.

        The fact that Deve Gowda had already met Sonia twice over must have caught Tamilnadu by surprise. As he has also had an audience with Manmohan Singh, the Tamilnadu must be feeling lagging behind on the Cauvery issue.

        Or at least many political parties in Tamilnadu are feeling that way. And this include the allies of the ruling DMK. Today too, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi has come out with a big official press release in response to PMK supremo Dr S Ramadoss reactions to the Cauvery imbroglio.

        The fact that Karunanidhi has been caught in a war of words with his party's biggest ally shows the state of affairs here.

        The Tamilnadu government, the allies of the DMK feel, is not doing enough on the issue. Too much of kids glove is in play here, said a leading PMK leader. 'It is as though they don't want to embarrass the PM and Sonia on the issue. But in the bargain, it is the State which is losing its position,' he added. Karunanidhi also laboured to explain why PMK's suggestion (at the all-party meet held last Monday) for a hartal of sorts was not acceded to. He said other parties did not support the PMK's suggestion and hence it was not taken up.

        In this background, the Tamilnadu government is planning to synergise its approach. The MPs from the State may also meet the Prime Minister and present a memorandum of sorts.

        Elsewhere, the farmers in Karnataka are also planning to intensify their agitations.

        Agitated over the allocation of 419 tmc ft of water to Tamilnadu, farmers in the basin districts are planning to hit the streets more vigorously.

        Their earlier protests had not only crippled the economy of these districts, especially Mysore which heavily depended on tourist inflow, but also affected traffic between Mysore and Bangalore.

        At last count on Friday, more than 500 agitations have been held since 5 February when the award was declared by the tribunal, affecting life in the districts of Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Mandya, besides parts of Bangalore rural.