Trichy, April 6: Farmers in Tamil Nadu protested in Trichy by partially burying themselves in the sand on banks of Cauvery river, demanding the formation of Cauvery Management Board (CMB). Tamil Nadu wants a Cauvery Management Board to be set up to protect its interests in the Cauvery water dispute, but Karnataka is not in its favour. Farmer Leader Ayyakannu was also present at the protest on Friday.

Farmers across the state protested since the last month to put pressure on the central government to form a Cauvery Management Board as directed by the Supreme Court. To recall, the Supreme Court on February 16 asked the centre to form the Cauvery board to implement a scheme for sharing water between upstream Tamil Nadu and downstream Karnataka for 15 years. The centre is yet to form the board, following which Tamil Nadu government filed the contempt petition against the Centre.

While the Cauvery issue has gained momentum in Chennai, various fringe groups and political leaders have asked to withdraw the IPL match has been scheduled for April 10. This should not take place. If the match goes ahead, MJK members will stop it and capture the IPL players. T. Velmurugan, president of the Tamizhaga Vaazhvurimai Katchi was quoted by The Hindu saying that the supporters and followers of all the organisations which were present at the press meet would buy tickets to the IPL match and exercise their democratic right to protest there.

As per reports, the opposition parties sponsored a bandh in Tamil Nadu on Thursday. The bandh  crippled normal life across the state as well as in the neighbouring Union Territory of Puducherry. Protests, fasts and demonstrations are being held against the Union government's failure to form the Cauvery Management Board (CMB). Reports state that in wake of the ongoing stir in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, pro-Kannada outfits on Thursday called for a bandh in poll-bound Karnataka on April 12.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 06, 2018 12:36 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).