Chandigarh, September 7, 2022 (Yes Punjab News)
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today condemned Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Convener Arvind Kejriwal for asserting water from SYL canal should be given to Haryana as well as the endorsement given to this anti-Punjab statement by State chief minister Bhagwant Mann.
Expressing shock at the manner in which Kejriwal was ready to sell out the interests of Punjab for electoral gains in Haryana as well as the abject surrender of Punjab’s interests by Bhagwant Mann solely to save his chair, the SAD President said “this sell out of the State’s interests by a party which was given an overwhelming majority of 92 seats is unparalleled in the history of Punjab”.
Asserting that Bhagwant Mann has taken the prestige of the post of the chief minister of Punjab to a new low, Mr Sukhbir Badal said “Mann was led by the finger to Haryana and showcased as subservient to Kejriwal”. He said the manner in which Mann had endorsed the statement of Kejriwal was shameful and a blot on his chair. “Punjabis can never imagine their elected chief minister signing off their river waters but Bhagwant Mann is getting ready to do just this to remain in power”.
Forewarning Bhagwant Mann not to attend any meeting on SYL with the Haryana government, the SAD president said “negotiations are done when you have something to give away”. He also asserted that discussions could be held with a Riparian State and that Haryana was a non-Riparian State and had no right to claim a share in the River waters of Punjab.
He also detailed how Mann was weakening Punjab’s position on a second core issue concerning the sentiments of its Punjabis. “Earlier Mann has been instrumental in weakening Punjab’s case vis a vis Haryana by not protesting the latter’s demand to get land allotted for it for a new Vidhan Sabha complex in Chandigarh”.
Condemning Bhagwant Mann’s cowardly actions and the manner in which he had backstabbed Punjabis, Mr Badal said “the SAD has steadfastly protected Punjab’s River waters and will continue to do so. We are firm in our belief that the State does not have one drop of water to spare.
We will not let one drop of water go out of the State to Haryana”. He also disclosed how former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal had passed the Punjab SYL canal (Rehabilitation and Re-vesting of Property Rights) Bill 2016 to return land acquired for the canal’s construction back to the original owners free of cost.
Answering media queries, Mr Badal said this was not the first time that Kejriwal had made his intentions clear on the SYL issue. “Earlier the Delhi CM has issued a statement saying Haryana and Delhi had an equal right over SYL waters”. He said the AAP government in Delhi had also sided with Haryana by filing similar affidavits in the Supreme Court in 2016.
Mr Badal said successive central governments had bled Punjab by denying the State its just rights. He said in 1955 a non-Riparian State – Rajasthan was given 8 MAF of Ravi-Beas water arbitrarily.
“Subsequently when Indira Gandhi was at the helm at the centre the then Punjab chief minister – Darbara Singh was brow beaten to sign away the River water rights of Punjab to Haryana”. He said the SAD and former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal had not only challenged Section 78 of the Punjab Reorganization Act in 1979 but also returned land on which the SYL canal was constructed back to the farmers who had started filling it up.
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