By stitching up alliance with INLD, SAD does a U-turn on SYL canal issue
No party has one stand on the SYL canal issue. It changes from state to state. All political parties make different commitments in Punjab and Haryana. In Punjab, we are also opposed of building the canal but our unit in Haryana see things differently.
DALJIT SINGH CHEEMA, SAD spokesperson
CHANDIGARH : By joining hands with the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) for the Haryana assembly elections, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has deviated from its earlier stand on Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal.
In 2017, the SAD had severed ties with the INLD, which advocated for the SYL canal.
“No party has one stand on the SYL issue. It changes from state to state. All political parties make different commitments in Punjab and Haryana. In Punjab, we are also opposed of building the canal but our unit in Haryana see things differently in the neighbouring state,” said SAD spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema.
In 2015, SAD led government in alliance with the BJP had denotified SYL land and handed it back to its original owners. In a show of symbolism, the villagers had ploughed and merged some portions of the canal with their farmland. INLD had then reacted strongly and marched towards the Punjab border to stage a protest.
Now, when an alliance could not be materialised with the Bharatiya janata party (BJP) and Dushyant Chautala led Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), Akali Dal once again touched base with the INLD.
After INLD chief Om Parkash Chautala was jailed in 2013 for ten years in recruitment scam and the party touched a low ebb, its tie-up with the SAD is seen as an effort to hold the last straw for survival.
In 2014, INLD registered win on 19 assembly seats, but a splinter outfit of the party, Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), was floated only last year when Chautala expelled his elder son and former MP Ajay Chautala as well as latter’s both sons – former MP Dushyant and youth leader Digvijay – for anti-party activities. Currently, INLD has a support of three MLAS.
Reacting to the BJP’S statement that they have not entered into an alliance with the SAD in Haryana because of the latter’s stand on the SYL issue, cheema asked, “Then why had the saffron party sought its support in the general elections?”
Last week, saffron party had dumped the SAD in a knee-jerk reaction and had inducted latter’s sitting MLA Balkaur Singh to contest from Kalanwali. In a tit-for-tat, SAD inducted Rajinder Singh Desujodha, who had represented the BJP in Kalanwali constituency in 2014 and announced him as its candidate from the same constituency.
“The alliance with INLD has no meaning. Both parties lack strength in Haryana. I don’t know why even they are contesting polls,” questioned Sikh historian Gurdarshan Singh Dhillon.