Amit Shah to Chair South Zone Chief Ministers' Conference in Mamallapuram

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will chair a two-day South Zone Chief Ministers' Conference starting Thursday at a private hotel in Mamallapuram, focusing on resolving key inter-state issues among southern states.

The conference will bring together leaders from across the region, including Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, Kerala Chief Minister V D Satheesan, and Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy.

The high-level meeting aims to provide a platform for ironing out differences between neighbouring states and finding amicable solutions to persistent inter-state disputes to foster collective growth across various spheres.

The gathering holds major significance against the backdrop of the decades-old Cauvery water dispute and the Mekedatu reservoir row. Karnataka has been pushing to construct a reservoir across the Cauvery river at Mekedatu while failing to comply with Supreme Court directives regarding the release of Tamil Nadu's allocated share of water.

The resulting water shortages have created severe difficulties in Tamil Nadu's delta region, badly disrupting paddy cultivation and prompting farmers' associations to stage protests.

The issue has also generated political heat in Tamil Nadu, where opposition parties have demanded an all-party meeting on the matter. In response, the ruling TVK passed a resolution during the ongoing legislative assembly session opposing the Karnataka government's efforts to construct the Mekedatu dam.