Ensure withdrawal of Prez reference on SYL or resign: AAP to CM
CHANDIGARH: Throwing a challenge at the Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, the Aam Aadmi Party has demanded his resignation on the issue of the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal.
Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, AAP leader and senior Supreme Court lawyer Harvinder Singh Phoolka said the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Congress were indulging in a “grand drama” over the issue and it was high time their bluff was called.
He said the two parties had been responsible for the construction of the canal and bringing the situation to a passé. “It is their doing and they should undo it. The SAD is in power and the chief minister should resign over the issue,” said Phoolka.
He said the AAP had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding the withdrawal of the Presidential Reference on SYL Canal. “In case the Presidential Reference is not withdrawn within a week, the CM Punjab should resign on moral grounds. He should accept his helplessness in saving Punjab waters,” said Phookla. Accompanied by AAP’s manifesto chairman Kanwar Sandhu and legal cell incharge HS Shergill, Phoolka gave details of how the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had laid the foundation of the canal and Badal government had acquired land for it.
Reading out from the letter to the PM, Kanwar Sandhu said they had asked the PM to resolve the matter amicably by calling a meeting of chief ministers of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan and reiterate Punjab’s riparian rights to its river waters.
When asked about the ‘neutral’ stand taken by the AAPled Delhi government in the Supreme Court over the issue, Phoolka said the stand of the Punjab unit of AAP was different from that of the Delhi government. “AAP’s Punjab unit has already made it clear that Punjab has no water to share and it will not,” he said.
He said Congress and SAD were trying to outdo one another in becoming the “saviours” of Punjab waters. “But the fact is that these two parties are squarely responsible for the current situation. They are raking up the issue at a time when elections are a few months away. They are trying to befool the people of Punjab,” he said.