"Decision Must Be PM's": Prithviraj Chavan On Blocking Water Supply To Pak

PUNE: A day after Union water resources minister Nitin Gadkari spoke about not allowing India's share of water to flow to Pakistan, senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan said a minister on his own cannot take such a decision.

India has decided to "stop" the flow of its share of water to Pakistan from rivers under the Indus Water Treaty, Mr Gadkari had said on Thursday, a week after the Pulwama terror attack. An official later clarified that it was not a new decision.

"The honourable minister does not have such authority...such decisions should be taken by the cabinet's security committee because the international repercussions of such things can be very serious," Mr Chavan, a former Union minister in the Manmohan Singh government, said.

"So it not good that any minister just gets up and makes such a statement because such decisions should be taken by the prime minister," he said, speaking to reporters in Pune.

"As far as giving a reply to Pakistan is concerned, whatever decision prime minister takes, we will support it. We do not want to bring politics into it," he said.