Cauvery issue: T.N. Minister Nirmalkumar says Karnataka CM Shivakumar, DMK share ties beyond politics

Tamil Nadu Minister for Law and Energy Resources R. Nirmalkumar on Sunday (August 2, 2026) claimed that Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M.K. Stalin’s family shared a cordial relationship that went beyond politics, Mr. Nirmalkumar said that Mr. Shivakumar wanted the DMK to return to power and the Karnataka CM would listen to the DMK leader’s family rather than the Congress leadership.

Speaking to journalists at Chennai Airport, Mr. Nirmalkumar strongly objected to Mr. Stalin’s statement that “Chief Minister [C. Joseph Vijay], in an attempt to go it alone [on the Cauvery issue], was left isolated,” while the Karnataka Chief Minister had convened an all-party meeting on Sunday (August 2, 2026) to discuss the Cauvery issue.

Referring to developments over the past week, Mr. Nirmalkumar alleged, “The DMK was articulating what Mr. Shivakumar wanted to say, while Mr. Shivakumar was saying what the DMK wanted to convey.”

His statement comes a day after he announced that the Tamil Nadu government will move the Supreme Court on Monday (August 3, 2026) on the Cauvery issue to safeguard the rights of the people of the State.

According to him, when J. Jayalalithaa was the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, former DMK president M. Karunanidhi had exerted pressure on Karnataka not to release Cauvery water, saying that doing so would have given credit to her.

He said after holding several rounds of discussions on the Cauvery issue, Mr. Vijay has decided to move the Supreme Court and the Tamil Nadu government had initiated the required legal process. In such a situation, he alleged, the DMK had hurriedly filed a separate petition before the Supreme Court.

According to him, multiple petitions filed on behalf of the same State before the Supreme Court would create confusion and affect the State’s rights. He also questioned how many petitions the DMK had filed on the Cauvery issue during the past five years.

He said while the AIADMK under Jayalalithaa had taken firm decisions on the Cauvery issue, the party now had been “acting on the advice of the Bharatiya Janata Party.”

The Minister said Mr. Vijay had made every effort to arrive at an amicable solution to the Cauvery issue. However, he alleged, “The DMK, by joining hands with Mr. Shivakumar, had continuously attempted to create obstacles.”