Chandigarh : Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar on Monday slammed chief minister Bhagwant Mann for choosing Tagore Theatre in Chandigarh to discuss the serious issue of Punjab’s waters.
Jakhar said he won’t be attending the debate on serious issues at any theatre. “Am I an artiste or a comedian that I will go to a theatre? I am not running away from any debate, but it should be at a meaningful place. Let’s have a debate in Abohar which will be at the receiving end if water is given to any other state or at the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. Moreover, who is Mann to decide the place for the debate. He is just a participant like others,” Jakhar said.
The CM had on Sunday challenged the Opposition leaders for an open debate on November 1 on issues facing the state. The CM’s dare came amid a slugfest between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Opposition parties over the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue.
The state BJP chief said before any debate, Mann should explain why the state government diluted the time-tested stand on the SYL in the Supreme Court. “Later their advocate general said that they were ready to hold talks with Haryana but what kind of talks? There is no water in Punjab so what is the point of holding talks? They forgot their dignity after they came to power,” Jakhar said.
On the comments made by the CM about former Union minister Balram Jakhar (father of Sunil Jakhar) that he along with Capt Amarinder Singh accompanied the then prime minister Indira Gandhi to perform the groundbreaking ceremony of the SYL canal at Kapuri, the Punjab BJP chief said his father was the speaker of the Lok Sabha in April 1982, and he was not present at the groundbreaking ceremony. “The CM should check the facts before speaking,” he said.
State BJP chief running away from debate: AAP
{{/usCountry}}State BJP chief running away from debate: AAP
{{/usCountry}}Aam Aadmi Party’s Punjab chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang claimed that Jakhar was running away from the debate with the chief minister on November 1 on issues concerning the state. “The Modi government at the Centre has been constantly taking anti-Punjab decisions for the last 10 years, and that is why Jakhar is running away from the debate with the chief minister,” he claimed at a press conference.
Kang also asked Jakhar to protest in front of the houses of BJP leaders like Union water resources minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on the SYL canal issue.