Punjab: AAP, BJP & SAD Trade Barbs Over Sutlej Yamuna Canal Link Issue

Chandigarh: A day after Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) urged the governor to dismiss chief minister Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for "compromising the state’s interests while defending the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal case in the Supreme Court", the state BJP held a protest against the AAP government over the issue on here Saturday.

Accusing the AAP government of failing to safeguard the state’s interest on the river waters, several senior BJP leaders, led by the state president Sunil Jakhar, staged a sit-in near the residence of the chief minister after they were stopped by the police from going towards the CM’s residence.

Besides Jakhar, the leaders who sat in protest included union minister Som Parkash, former union minister Vijay Sampla, former deputy speaker of Lok Sabha Charanjit Singh Atwal, former MP Avinash Rai Khanna and former minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, besides others. They were detained by the police and were let off later.

Addressing newspersons, Jakhar held that the Mann government had backstabbed the people of Punjab by, what he termed as, ``weakening’’ the state’s stand on SYL canal in the apex court.

Jakhar alleged that the state government had said in the court that it was ready to construct the SYL canal but the opposition parties and farmers opposed it. On the other hand, Mann kept on saying in public that there was not even a drop of water to shar with any other state, Jakhar further alleged accusing the AAP government of having double standards.

AAP's counter attack

Meanwhile, attacking SAD and BJP, the state AAP chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said that the stand of the AAP on this matter was clear that the Punjab government would not allow the SYL canal to be built nor would it give even a single extra drop of Punjab's water to any other state.

Attacking the BJP, Kang said that on Friday the prime minister had given a statement against Punjab regarding SYL in Rajasthan.

Kang also shared an old video of Sunil Jakhar and asked him that when he (Jakhar) was in Congress, he used to say that the matter had to be decided by the prime minister and not by the chief minister and that the prime minister Modi had ill intentions which was why he was postponing this issue and if he wanted, he could resolve this issue in just two days.

Attacking SAD, Kang said that it would be better if Sukhbir Badal remained silent on this issue because his father Prakash Singh Badal was the first to issue a notification for the acquisition of land for SYL canal in 1978, when he was the chief minister.