Capt could’ve denotified SYL land, says Badal

Parkash Singh Badal says Capt Amarinder Singh could have denotified SYL land in 2004

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday asked chief minister Parkash Singh Badal to go beyond “token symbolism on the crucial SYL (Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal) issue, while actually trying to run away from the real responsibility”.

The CM’s job, he said, didn’t end by merely getting a unanimous resolution passed in the Vidhan Sabha and passing it off to the governor “to shrug off your own responsibilities towards Punjab”. He asked Badal to “do something sincere and serious that proves your intentions are genuine”. The state Congress president said that since the ball was in the Centre’s court, the governor might hardly act of his own. “Given the Centre’s intentions and the recent stand in the Supreme Court, it is unlikely that the governor will appreciate the merit of the bill passed unanimously in the Vidhan Sabha,” he mentioned in a press statement issued here.

“It would be better if Badal led an all- party delegation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and told him in frank and forthright ter ms that Punjab could not and would not spare even a single drop of its precious water for anyone,” Amarinder suggested, while promising Badal all support and cooperation from his party on the issue. He said the CM should not hesitate in staging a dharna outside the PM’s office and even the Congress would participate in it, in case he decided to do that.

Amarinder observed that the best course still available with Badal to save Punjab waters, “which he would never adopt though, was to pressurise the Centre by way of withdrawing from the NDA ( National Democratic Alliance) government for its backstabbing Punjab over its waters”. “But the BJP ( Bharatiya Janata Party) knows Badal’s weakness too well and understands that he is resorting to mere symbolism, and that he will never make his daughter-in-law Harsimrat Kaur Badal resign from the Union cabinet to show his seriousness and solidarity with Punjab,” he remarked.

Given the Centre’s intentions and the recent stand in the Supreme Court, it is unlikely that the governor will appreciate the merit of the Bill passed unanimously in the Vidhan Sabha. CAPTAIN AMARINDER SINGH, Punjab Congress president