Karnataka calls all-party meet over Cauvery water directive; bandh on August 13

With the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) endorsing a directive of the Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee (CWRC) to the state of Karnataka to release daily 3,500 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu, the Karnataka Congress government has called an all-party meeting on the issue on Sunday, even as pro-Kannada groups called for a state bandh on August 13.Despite a request by the Karnataka side to the CWMA to delay implementation by a fortnight of a July 28 order of the CWRC to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, the CWMA on Thursday upheld the CWRC order and asked Karnataka to release water immediately to Tamil Nadu for 15 days.The CWMA order is the first Cauvery crisis encountered by the two new chief ministers of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu – D K Shivakumar and Joseph Vijay, respectively –