BANGALORE : Cauvery issue is on the boil once again with the new Karnataka government taking an aggressive stand and refusing to give any water to Tamil Nadu, despite the court orders.

The Karnataka government decision will only add another element to the ongoing fight between the two neighbouring states over Cauvery waters. Karnataka has been trying to fend off even court verdicts citing its own drought as the reason and was denying Tamil Nadu its share of water.

The Karnataka government decided to challenge the formation of Cauvery Management Board, that effectively takes out control of the river from its hands, was taken by Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy at an all-party meeting here in Bangalore.

Politicians cutting across party lines attended the meeting convened by the Chief Minister where it was unanimously resolved to challenge the central government decision constituting the CMB with its headquarters in Delhi.

Interestingly, in a political sideshow emerging out of the all-party meeting, is that senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister S Siddaramaiah was conspicuous by his absence at the meet.

The Karnataka government on Saturday decided to file a petition in the Supreme Court to challenge the setting up of the CMB, which fulfilled the long-pending demand of the Tamil Nadu government.

So far, Karnataka managed to block the move but after assembly elections were over in Karnataka, the centre constituted the CMB much to the Karnataka’s chagrin.

Initially Karnataka refused to take part but eventually it named its representative in the board that will work from Delhi and it will be the in charge for distributing the Cauvery water as per the SC orders.

Tamil Nadu was fighting for the CMB for a long time.

The then chief minister, Late J Jayalalithaa, had written several letters to the Prime Minister seeking the constitution of the board. In fact, it took lot of effort for the chief minister to get the centre to notify a 2007 order by the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal award.