Kejriwal mum on Punjab canal row
DEAFENING SILENCE SAD leaders mock Delhi CM for ‘shifting’ stand on issue
CHANDIGARH: The silence of the otherwise outspoken national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on the contentious issue of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal is deafening.
While his party leaders in Punjab have jumped into the fray, beginning an anti-SYL agitation, the AAP supremo, who belongs to Haryana, is fighting shy of taking a pro-Punjab stand on the contentious water issue in which Delhi state is also a party.
Caught in an obvious bind, it is no wonder that even after a series of re-tweets on the subject on Thursday, Kejriwal has not given his view on the matter. And it is not that no one has noticed.
State Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh, who resigned from the Lok Sabha within minutes of the Supreme Court verdict, has asked Kejriwal to clear his stand.
SAD leaders mocked the Delhi CM for “shifting” stand on the issue — first speaking in favour of Punjab, then filing an affidavit in the court favouring Haryana, and finally taking a neutral stand in the court matter.
The clamour for Kejriwal to speak up is only sharpening. His party’s former convener in Punjab, Sucha Singh Chhotepur who is now heading the Apna Punjab Party (APP), too popped the same question.
Independent MLAs from Ludhiana — the Bains brothers, who are a part of the Navjot Singh Sidhu-led Awaaz-e-Punjab — also made it clear on Thursday that there will be no tie-up with Kejriwal till he supports Punjab on the canal issue.
This is the golden jubilee year for Haryana and conditions are becoming favourable for the state...
Kejriwal, however, asked his Punjab team to make the most of the opportunity in the run-up to the high stakes polls.
AAP’s state leaders held a press conference on Thursday, vehemently opposing any move on construction of the canal.
Supreme Court lawyer and AAP’s candidate from Dakha, HS Phoolka, even went to the extent of saying that if the construction of the canal began, it would be over his dead body.
Later, Delhi MLA Jarnail Singh issued a video message quoting the scriptures, asking people to gather at village Kapuri (in Patiala) for an indefinite morcha against the construction of the canal beginning Friday. MANOHAR LAL KHATTAR, Haryana chief minister
If they are so concerned about the impact of the SYL verdict on Punjab, why have the Akali MPs not resigned from their parliamentary seats?
AMARINDER SINGH, Punjab Congress chief