A delegation of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders from Kerala met senior party leaders here on Tuesday to discuss the ongoing row with Tamil Nadu over the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar Dam.

The delegation demanded senior party leaders Lal Krishna Advani and Arun Jaitley to press Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to intervene in the matter.

The President of the Kerala BJP unit, V Muralidharan, said it was high time that Manmohan Singh understood the gravity of the issue and stressed on the need for an early and amicable solution to end the ongoing row between the two neighbouring states.

"This has become an issue between Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The Prime Minister should come forward and take the initiative for understanding and solving the issue. Till now, the chief minister of Kerala (Oommen Chandy) has visited Delhi twice, but the Prime Minister has not yet taken any initiative on the issue," Muralidharan told mediapersons after his meeting with the sen
ior BJP leaders.

"So, we want the Prime Minister to take a step forward on the issue and for that we asked the opposition leader, Advaniji (Lal Krishna Advani), Arunji (Arun Jaitley) and Sushmaji (Sushma Swaraj) to ask the Prime Minister to do so," he added.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had met Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi here on December 2 to discuss the issue surrounding the Mullaperiyar Dam.

Muralidharan further said that though the matter is currently pending in the court, there was a need to resolve the issue politically.

"We are ready to give water to Tamil Nadu; the issue is not of providing water, the issue of about the lives and security of 40 lakh people of Kerala. In the wake of the security of 40 lakh people, the Prime Minister should come forward but he is reluctant of doing so," he added.

It may be recalled here that the Prime Minister had earlier this month asked Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal to hold a meeting with officials of both Kerala and Tamil Nadu and seek an early resolution of the controversy surrounding the Mullaperiyar Dam.

Kerala and Tamil Nadu are locked in a dispute over the dam located in Idduki District. The dam and the river are located in Kerala, but the dam is controlled and operated by Tamil Nadu. The safety of the dam has been a matter of concern and a point of dispute between the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

While Tamil Nadu, the custodian of the structure, wants to increase the water level in the reservoir, Kerala has been insisting that it be reduced from the current 136 feet to 120 feet.

Kerala apprehends that this past-expiry date dam could come crashing down any day and cause untold death and destruction in the state.

Kerala is arguing for the construction of a new dam at Mullaperiyar in place of the existing one, which is being opposed by Tamil Nadu. (ANI)