New Delhi, July 31 -- Karnataka's former Chief Minister Basavaraj S Bommai on Friday asserted that the State currently has water only to meet drinking water requirements and not for agriculture, urging that the State be given more time until reservoir inflows improve before releasing water to Tamil Nadu under the Cauvery water-sharing arrangement.

Speaking to ANI, Bommai said the assessment of southwest monsoon rainfall should be made only after the end of the monsoon season and argued that the current hydrological situation did not justify the direction to release water.

"We are having Southwest Monsoon. Southwest Monsoon total rain should be ultimately calculated by the end of the monsoon, that is end of August, not in the middle of t...