PM should transfer Chandigarh, Punjabi speaking areas to state: SAD president Sukhbir Badal

Alluding to PM’s January 5 visit, SAD president Sukhbir Badal said Punjabis had always hoped that successive Prime Ministers would undo the injustice meted out to the state

Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday urged the Prime Minister to transfer Chandigarh and other Punjabi speaking areas to Punjab and give the state riparian rights over the water in its rivers.

SAD president Sukhbir Badal urged the PM to make a difference by transferring Chandigarh to Punjab during his visit. Punjabi speaking areas which were left out of the state at the time of its reorganisation in 1966 should be transferred back to it and the state’s riparian rights restored. (Representative Image/HT File)

Alluding to the Prime Minister’s January 5 visit, Badal said Punjabis had always hoped that successive Prime Ministers would undo the injustice meted out to the state. “ I urge the PM to make a difference by transferring Chandigarh to Punjab during his visit. Punjabi speaking areas which were left out of the state at the time of its reorganisation in 1966 should be transferred back to it and the state’s riparian rights restored.”

The SAD president, who was addressing a rally in favour Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Kamaljit Chawla in Gurdaspur, promised to establish a cooperative sugar mill in the town. He also said that the PGI Satellite Centre at Ferozepur which had been secured by him for the state, will be inaugurated by the PM.

On the ‘letter bomb’ controversy, Badal said, “Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) leader Balbir Singh Rajewal owes an explanation for his actions. Apparently, he was betraying the Kisan Andolan by trying to make secret deals with the Centre. The matter should be probed.”

Asked about the alliance of the BJP with Captain Amarinder Singh’s Lok Congress Party and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa’s SAD (Sanyukt), Badal said, “Combining one non-entity with another doesn’t make any difference to the final product. A zero hundred times over is still a zero. Punjabis know their arithmetic. This alliance will not make any difference to state politics”.

Taking a dig on Pradesh Congress President Navjot Singh Sidhu , the SAD president said, “As if being a misguided missile was not bad enough, Sidhu is now shaming Punjabis by publicly resorting to vulgarity in his maverick outbursts. Sidhu has nothing to offer Punjab, except poison, hatred, limitless ego and arrogance.”