Punjab CM hits back at Oppn leaders over SYL issue

Chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday hit back at Opposition leaders for attacking his government over the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, asking them not to forget the sins of their “ancestors” before shedding crocodile tears on this issue

Chandigarh : Chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday hit back at Opposition leaders for attacking his government over the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, asking them not to forget the sins of their “ancestors” before shedding crocodile tears on this issue.

Chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday hit back at Opposition leaders for attacking his government over the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, asking them not to forget the sins of their “ancestors” before shedding crocodile tears on this issue.

Mann, whose government is being accused by the Opposition parties of failing to safeguard the state’s interests on this issue, said these leaders were indulging in theatricals to mislead the people of the state. “It is a well-known fact that the ancestors of these leaders have sown thorns before Punjab and its younger generations by indulging in this unpardonable crime of constructing the SYL canal. For the sake of their vested interests, these selfish leaders had agreed, planned and executed the construction of this canal,” he alleged in a statement, targeting Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal in particular.

Jakhar, Sukhbir, leader of Opposition (LoP) Partap Singh Bajwa and Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring have been slamming the Mann government and holding protests, accusing it of failing to defend Punjab’s rights over its river waters with strong legal arguments.

Hitting out at the Opposition leaders, Mann said that everyone knows former Union minister Balram Jakhar (father of Sunil Jakhar) along with Capt Amarinder Singh accompanied the then prime minister Indira Gandhi to perform the groundbreaking ceremony of the SYL canal at Kapuri. “Similarly, former chief minister of Haryana Chaudhary Devi Lal had hailed his then Punjab counterpart Parkash Singh Badal for allowing the survey of this canal. History will never forgive them for backstabbing Punjab,” he said in a statement.

Mann also dared the Opposition leaders to bring along with them the papers of settlement which their parents had signed for the sake of power by deceiving the state and its people. “This will give a clear picture to people of the state as to how they were betrayed in the name of making sacrifices,” the CM claimed, asking the Opposition leaders not to worry about the waters of the state as from childhood his (Mann’s) father used to assign him duty for saving the waters for their fields.

He said the state has no water to share with any other state and waters of Punjab will be preserved by all means. The CM and the Opposition leaders have been hitting out each other following the Supreme Court’s directive to the central government last week to conduct a survey of land that was allocated for the construction of Punjab portion of the 212km-long canal. Mann had challenged the Opposition leaders to a debate on November 1 on issues facing the state and the government selected Tagore Theatre as the venue. His latest attack will further intensify the war of words between the two sides.