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NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 3:

        The D day is beckoning Tamilnadu. The State is anxiously bracing itself for a slew of politically significant events poised to unfold on 5 February.

        The final award of the Cauvery River Water Disputes Tribunal (CRWDT), the general council of the AIADMK, the hearing of the civic poll violence case in the Madras High Court which has reached its final stages and other events scheduled for the day has created up ripples among the political circles in the State.

        The most significant thing that has caused anxiety among political parties and the farmers in Tamilnadu and Karnataka is the final award of the CRWDT.

        The tribunal which was set up to resolve the Cauvery river water disputes primarily between Tamilnadu and Karnataka sat on the issue for 16 long years. The final award was delayed for a variety of reasons including divergence of opinion among the presiding officers over a host of issues.

        Meanwhile, the interim award of the tribunal of 205 tmc ft water to Tamilnadu was never honoured in toto by Karnataka. It only released excess waters during active monsoon spells when dams in the State had no more space to store water.

        The neighbouring State's denial of waters caused disaffection in Tamilnadu and also embittered relationship at the government level besides violence and tension.

        Whichever way the award goes, it is bound to create a political chain reaction both in Tamilnadu and Karnataka. As the other riparian States — Puducherry and Kerala do not have much stakes in the dispute, the outcome of the final verdict has not caused any difficulty for these States, it is learnt.

        The all party meeting convened by the Karnataka Chief Minister Kumaraswamy over the consequences of an adverse outcome and the government's preparedness to tackle possible fallout points to sensitivity involved in the issue in either side.

        Meanwhile, the Karnataka unit of the AIADMK has urged the government to ensure safety to the lives and property of Tamils in the State in the wake of threat by some organisations that 'an adverse verdict would not be taken lying down.'

        The main opposition AIADMK would be meeting for the first time on 5 February after the Assembly poll debacle and in the backdrop of a bypoll to the city civic agency.

        The Chief Minister M Karunanidhi has also chosen to hold parleys with Planning Commission deputy chairperson Monteksingh Alhuwalia and Finance Minister P Chidambaram on the same day over allocation of Union funds for the State.

        To add to the day's importance, the Madras High Court would be hearing arguments related to the civic poll 'malpractices' last year and it would also see contestants to the bypolls filing their nominations racing against time, the day being the last day to file papers.