BENGALURU: Karnatakaon Wednesday appeared to be heading for a collision course with the judiciary with the state cabinet deferring a decision on further release of Cauvery water till Friday, when a special session of the state legislature has been called.

The one-day session has been convened to finalise the future course of action with regard to implementing the Supreme Court’s September 20 order to release 6,000 cusecs of water to TN for seven days from September 21

On a day which witnessed hectic political activity, the state cabinet met twice, before and after an all-party meeting, to discuss the crisis that has erupted following the SC order. Reading out a carefully worded statement after the second round of cabinet meeting, CM Siddaramaiah said a decision on release of water has been deferred till September 23.

He said the legislature session would discuss the pros and cons of implementing the SC order and decide on the future course of action. Though he did not say it, what it means is that there will be no release of water till then. No water was released on Wednesday, when the state was supposed to start releasing water as per the revised schedule set by the Supreme Court in its latest order.

The all-party meeting held in the evening witnessed former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda and JD(S) state president HD Kumaraswamy urging the state government to convey its inability to release water to Tamil Nadu. BJP leaders stayed away from the meeting, saying the meeting had no meaning for them as the government had not considered their suggestion made during the previous all-party meeting.

Kumaraswamy was strident in conveying his stand. “Do not release even a single drop of water. The legislature will decide future course of action. We are with the government. There is no question of contempt of court,” he said.