Nabha– Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal today said chief minister Bhagwant Mann had succumbed to the pressure of the central government and was now laying the ground to release water to Haryana through the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal.
The SAD president was speaking to newsmen after meeting senior party leader Bikram Singh Majithia in the jail here during the course of which he disclosed that the Akali leader was in high spirits and was being persecuted only because he had raised his voice against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to protect the interests of Punjabis. While making it clear that the party was not afraid of false cases being registered against its leaders, Mr Sukhbir Badal said the next SAD government would form a Commission after coming to power in 2027 to probe all such cases. “Officers responsible for registering these false cases will be proceeded against as per law”, he added.
Condemning chief minister Bhagwant Mann for compromising the River waters of Punjab, Mr Badal said “it is shocking that Bhagwant Mann virtually agreed to hand over our River waters to Haryana during a joint press conference with his Haryana counterpart by stating that once the water which was to be given to Haryana was decided the State would build the SYL canal also”.
Asserting that it was shameful that the chief minister was holding meetings to facilitate the transfer of the State’s waters to Haryana, the SAD president said “S Parkash Singh Badal had made it clear during his tenure as chief minister that even if the Supreme Court directed him to release water to Haryana he would not let even one drop of water to flow through the SYL canal”. He said it was this clarity of purpose that had led S Parkash Singh Badal to denotify the land on which the SYL canal stood and return it back to farmers. “Now the resolute stand taken by the erstwhile SAD government is being eroded by a policy of compromise which was articulated by AAP Convener Arvind Kejriwal himself in 2017 when called for the transfer of water from the SYL canal to Haryana and Delhi and even followed it up by filing an affidavit in court”.
Mr Badal also condemned the chief minister for failing Punjabis by presiding over the total collapse of the law and order situation in the State. He said Bhagwant Mann was fond of pinning blame on home ministers and holding them responsible for any law and order problem when he was in the opposition, but now had totally abandoned his responsibility on this front. “More than 25 persons have lost their lives to gangsters and anti-social elements in the last twenty days alone. The industry is leaving the State even as no new investment is coming into Punjab”. Mr Badal made it clear that the next SAD government would come out with a firm policy to eradicate the menace of gangsters once it formed a government in the State in 2027.