Mullaperiyar issue who are right on dam

Kerala Congress(M) chairman and finance minister K M Mani has said that in the Mullaperiyar issue Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should stand by parties who have taken the right stance, indirectly demanding that he should agree to Kerala's demand for a new dam. "In some subjects the central government can direct the states and in the Mullaperiyar issue, too, it can instruct. The Prime Minister should take a strong position in this regard and stand by the people who are right and reject the other," said Mani while interacting with reporters here on Friday. Even the Supreme Court has said the Prime Minister can intervene, he observed. Mani also made it clear that the Kerala Congress has not withdrawn from the strike, and the party has taken a break following the Prime Minister's promise that he would interfere in the matter. "We will wait for a month and are confident that the Prime Minister would take a decision by then and bring Tamil Nadu to the negotiating table. We stopped the agitation temporarily as the Prime Minister wants a conducive atmosphere for the talks," he added. He also said that there is no difference of opinion within the party about this decision. Justifying the decision to stop the agitation for now, he said Kerala prefers an out-of-court settlement in this issue because the government does not want to prolong it through a legal battle, putting the safety of the people at stake. A cordial atmosphere is the need of the hour, he added.