In what has become a new demand from outside Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister MK Stalin has got a demand from his Karnataka counterpart BS Yediyurappa as the latter had written to the former requesting him not to oppose the Mekedatu balancing reservoir-cum-drinking water project and Yediyurappa had offered a bilateral meeting between the two states to alleviate the tensions surfaced over this project. 

Mekedatu project is one of the issues where Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are locking horns for many years as the project has strongly been opposed by Tamil Nadu for going against the flow of the Cauvery river, which is a major source of water for the central and delta districts in Tamil Nadu for its farming and irrigation. Amid a legal battle, Karnataka Chief Minister Yediyurappa had requested MK Stalin not to oppose the project. 

According to reports, Yediyurappa's demand has become his effort to subside the issue around the Mekedatu project. In his letter to Stalin, Yediyurapp has asserted that the project would be benefitting both the states and would in no way affect the interests of the farming communities of Tamil Nadu. He wrote, "It would be in the interest of all concerned and to have a better relationship between the state of Karnataka and state of Tamil Nadu if the Tamil Nadu government in the right spirit would not oppose the implementation of the project." 

Yediyurappa had highlighted to his Tamil Nadu counterpart that the water project has been contemplated with an objective to regulate the flow of water to Tamil Nadu as notified in the final orders of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and thereafter modified by the Supreme Court to generate 400 Megawatt of power. Karnataka Chief Minister has also underlined various projects of the Tamil Nadu government planned on the main river below Mettur. 

Yediyurappa said, "In order to address issues, if any, it is suggested that a bilateral meeting could also be held in the presence of concerned officials to clear all apprehensions." "The government of Tamil Nadu has neither entered into any kind of negotiations nor secured consent from the Government of Karnataka for the projects (two hydropower projects of Tamil Nadu) in the Cauvery basin", Yediyurappa added. 

The Tamil Nadu government has strongly opposed Karnataka's Mekedatu project that it will lead to a reduction in the quantum of water from Cauvery to the state awarded by the Supreme Court and the project is against the farmers of Tamil Nadu. Recently, MK Stalin has reiterated the Tamil Nadu government's opposition to the project and said that the project poses an adversarial impact on the interests of the farmers in Tamil Nadu.