Unlike his predecessors, why Vijay wants to discuss Cauvery with Karnataka

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay’s proposed meeting with his Karnataka counterpart D K Shivakumar to seek the release of Cauvery water marks a striking departure from the state’s traditional instinct: when Karnataka asked for talks, Tamil Nadu usually asked for adjudication.For more than three decades, Chennai’s argument has been that a river dispute burdened by history, competing crops, changing monsoons and electoral emotion cannot be settled across a table by two CMs, however cordial their relationship. It must move through the Cauvery Water Management Authority, the regulation committee, the tribunal’s final award and the Supreme Court’s judgment.Vijay is now attempting something more delicate: reopening the political conversation without appearing to reopen rights already sett