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After SYL, Badal rakes up Chandigarh, says should be given to ‘parent’ state
Having taken a tough stand on the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal is now raking up the Chandigarh issue, saying the capital should have been given to the parent state instead of sharing it with Haryana.
Having taken a tough stand on the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal is now raking up the Chandigarh issue, saying the capital should have been given to the parent state instead of sharing it with Haryana.
He blamed the Congress for losing some Punjabi-speaking areas to Haryana during reorganisation of state and also alleged that Punjab Congress failed to stake claim to Chandigarh.
Speaking on the sidelines of a “sangat darshan” in the Bassi Pathana assembly segment, Badal dismissed reports of bickering or dissension in the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and said the party was united and its alliance with the BJP was intact. He also charged the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress with making “baseless” claims to “destabilise the alliance”.
Badal’s remarks came following reports of bickering among SAD workers over seat swapping after Bassi Pathana MLA Nirmal Singh was not present at “sangat darshan”. He ruled out any possibility of dissension over shifting of Nirmal Singh to Chamkaur Sahib and giving Darbara Singh Guru the ticket from Bassi Pathana. “It happened with mutual understanding,” he added. “The party is united to give a crushing defeat to both the Congress and AAP, he said.
Asked about AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal’s allegation that there was an understanding between the Akali Dal and Congress for the assembly election, Badal said: “It is unthinkable to have such an understanding as both the Akali Dal and the Congress are poles apart. “Agg ate pani kadey ikatthe nahi ho sakde (As fire and water cannot co-exist, how Akalis and Congress can?” he said.
On the SYL canal issue, Badal said it was Congress Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who forced the party CM to resign as she wanted to give Punjab’s water to Haryana. “Oh kabja kari baithe aa, te asi kirayedaran ban gaye haan (they have occupied it and we are living like tenants.”
Contradicting his deputy and son Sukhbir Singh Badal’s statement that AAP was out of race in the run up to assembly polls, Badal said: “It will be a triangular fight between the Akali-BJP alliance, Congress and the AAP.”
To a question if Sukhbir would contest from Jalalabad, Badal said: “It is the party president who decides on tickets.”
