AAP won't let Punjab river waters flow to Haryana: Bhagwant Mann

Chandigarh: The AAP said it will not let the Punjab river waters flow to Haryana and accused the Akali Dal and INLD of trying to exploit the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal issue only for political mileage.

AAP MP Bhagwant Mann said AAP would not allow any water to flow to Haryana because Punjab has no extra water.

He said his party is firm on the issue and will take all possible legal and political steps to resolve the river water dispute between Punjab and other neighbouring states.

Accusing Punjab’s SAD and Haryana’s INLD of seeking to exploit the sensitive issue, Mr Mann asked the people of the two states to be beware of the “dangerous designs” of the two parties, which, he said, were only creating law and order problem by “blowing” the SYL issue “out of proportion.”

Questioning INLD as to why it kept quite on SYL canal issue for ten years when its ally SAD ruled Punjab, Mr Mann said INLD suddenly decided to dig the canal after realising that SAD was going to lose power.

Asking SAD and INLD to “stop gimmickry and not to create situation for bloodshed,” Mr Mann said SAD is behaving like a defeated army which is laying land mines before retracting from the battle field.

He asked Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh not to create hurdles in development and progress of Punjab and accept the verdict of its people with grace.

Accusing SAD and Congress of being primarily responsible for “selling” Punjab river waters to Haryana, the AAP MP recalled that it was Parkash Singh Badal, the Punjab’s chief minister in 1978, who had allowed his Haryana counterpart Devi Lal to conduct survey for the SYL Canal.

“Devi Lal had announced in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha that what his predecessors Bhajan Lal and Bansi Lal could not do, he (Devi Lal) has done with the help of his dear friend Parkash Singh Badal,” Mr Mann said while referring to Vidhan Sabha records.

AAP MP said Devi Lal had given 18 acres of prime land to Badal family in Gurugram for Orbit resorts in lieu of “selling” Punjab’s interest to Haryana.

He said when Badal family ruled Punjab for the last ten years, INLD never petitioned Supreme Court for Punjab’s right over river waters and put up a weak case in defence to Haryana government’s petition against Punjab.

Mr Mann said Mr Badal for long had been blaming Congress for according step-motherly treatment to Punjab and not securing justice to it on the river water issue but kept quite against the Centre’s BJP government for the last three years.

He recently claimed to be ready to make highest possible sacrifice for Punjab waters but he continued to enjoy power for ten years, said Mr Mann.

Had he any affinity for Punjab, he would have severed ties with the BJP by now and making his much-promised highest sacrifice, would have withdrawn his daughter-in-law from Modi cabinet in protest to the injustice meted out to to Punjab, said Mr Mann.

Mr Mann said when Congress came to power in Haryana in 1982, erstwhile Prime Minister Indira Gandhi came to lay foundation stone of the controversial canal, while Capt Amarinder Singh who was MP from Patiala did not only attend the function at Kapoori but also carried a spade made of silver to dig earth.

Had the Captain been sincere for Punjab, he would have quit Congress, said Mr Mann adding both Mr Singh and Mr Badal worked against the people of Punjab and are now trying to prove they are their biggest saviours.

Mann said SAD had supported INLD in the 2014 assembly elections in Haryana and the friendship between Chautala and Badal families was not a secret.

He said by raking up the SYL issue these parties were only befooling the people of Punjab and Haryana.

He said they were raising the canal issue at a time when the Supreme Court is hearing the case and an atmosphere of mistrust was being created between Punjab and Haryana.

He appealed to people of both the states not to be misled by the motivated actions of SAD and INLD.