The Union Home Minister arrives in Chennai this evening to chair Thursday’s meeting in Chengalpattu — putting CM Vijay and Karnataka’s D. K. Shivakumar in the same room amid the Cauvery dispute and the Hanur killings.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrives in Chennai on Wednesday evening to chair the 31st meeting of the Southern Zonal Council, to be held on Thursday, 20 August, in Chengalpattu district on the East Coast Road. Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay will attend, along with the Chief Ministers of the other southern states and Puducherry.
Update: Pre-meeting reports placed the venue at Kovalam; reporting on the day consistently gave it as Mahabalipuram, also in Chengalpattu district. See our report on what was said at the meeting.
Alongside CM Vijay, those expected include Karnataka Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar, Kerala Chief Minister V. D. Satheesan, and the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, with Puducherry also represented. The Council comprises Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana, along with the Union Territories of Puducherry, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Lakshadweep.
Shah is scheduled to leave New Delhi at 4.50 pm and arrive at Chennai airport at 7.40 pm, travelling by road to stay overnight near the venue before the conference. Security has been tightened at the airport, along the convoy route and around the venue.
The timing gives the meeting unusual weight. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are currently opposed on two fronts.
On Cauvery, the Supreme Court directed Karnataka on 17 August to ensure compliance with the Cauvery Water Management Authority’s directions, sought a status report and posted the matter to 24 August — four days after this meeting. Tamil Nadu has told the court it received 14 TMC against the 64 TMC contemplated under the Tribunal award.
And on 15 August, three Tamil men were shot dead by Karnataka Forest Department personnel in the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary. CM Vijay called the killings a massacre and rejected the department’s explanation; the Assembly moved a call-attention motion on 18 August seeking a high-level probe. Shivakumar has ordered a magisterial inquiry.
The Union government describes the Zonal Councils as a forum for resolving issues and disputes between the Centre and member states and Union Territories. Meetings typically review the implementation of decisions taken at previous sessions and identify matters needing coordinated action.
Beyond Cauvery, agenda items of interest to Tamil Nadu are likely to include Mekedatu — on which the Assembly passed a unanimous resolution in June — along with inter-state coordination, security and infrastructure. The state has also been pressing the Centre on delimitation, on which Vijay wrote to the Prime Minister on 14 August.
Southern Zonal Council Amit Shah Kovalam Centre-State Relations August 19, 2026