AAP diluting Punjab’s claim over Chandigarh, river waters: Congress

Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann had on Saturday asked the Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa to clarify his party’s stand on Himachal Pradesh’s claim over Chandigarh. The Congress is in power in Himachal.

Leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa hit back at the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government on Sunday, accusing it of attempting to dilute Punjab’s claim over the state capital and river waters.

Leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa said the AAP government had already surrendered Punjab’s right over Chandigarh. (HT File)

Categorically asserting that he along with the Punjab Congress were committed to robustly defending Punjab’s rights over Chandigarh, Bajwa said their stand is clear that not even a single inch of Chandigarh could go to Himachal or Haryana. “I have never remained silent on issues concerning the interests of Punjab,” he said in a statement. Mann on Saturday asked the Congress leader to clarify his party’s stand on Himachal Pradesh’s claim over Chandigarh. The Congress is in power in HP.

In response, Bajwa said the AAP government had already surrendered Punjab’s right over Chandigarh. “Mann has yet to delete his July 9, 2022, tweet in which he demanded a piece of land in Chandigarh from the Centre for a separate Punjab Vidhan Sabha. This means that Mann still owns his statement in that tweet, which actually weakens Punjab’s case,” he said.

He further claimed that the AAP government never presented the case of Punjab’s rights on its river waters strongly enough. In a meeting with Union home minister Amit Shah in July 2022, the AAP government’s cabinet ministers Harjot Singh Bains and Harpal Singh Cheema demanded a new tribunal for assessing the state’s river water that weakened Punjab’s rights on river waters,” he alleged.