Rajmeet Singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, November 10
Within hours of the Supreme Court announcing its verdict on the controversial SYL issue, 42 Congress MLAs resigned from the Punjab Assembly today while state party chief Capt Amarinder Singh quit his Lok Sabha seat.Congress MLAs, led by Leader of the Opposition Charanjit Singh Channi, will submit their resignations to the Vidhan Sabha Speaker tomorrow and so will Independent MLA from Mukerian Rajesh Babbi.However, Lok Sabha MPs Ravneet Singh Bittu and Chaudhary Santokh Singh and Rajya Sabha members Ambika Soni, Shamsher Singh Dullo and Partap Singh Bajwa have not quit. “I have resigned as MP (from Amritsar) as I am the PPCC chief. It is not necessary for other party MPs to follow suit. My resignation is a protest against the deprivation of the people of Punjab of the much-needed Sutlej waters. The apex court’s decision is a bad day in the history of Punjab,” he told mediapersons here. He challenged AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal to spell out his stand in light of the ruling. “The Congress will now go to the masses to expose the SAD-BJP government for failure to contest the state’s case effectively,” he said, recalling that it was following an agreement between the late Haryana Chief Minister Devi Lal and Parkash Singh Badal in 1978 that the stone for the SYL canal was laid. Alleging that the “Akalis have let down the people on the critical issue”, he claimed while his government tried to protect Punjab’s interests through the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act 2004, the Akalis “have exposed the people to unprecedented hardship owing to their failure to safeguard their interests in the court”.He cited evidence while accusing Badal of “selling” Punjab’s interests. “He was instrumental in acquiring land for the SYL canal in Punjab through a notification on February 20, 1978, and taking money from Haryana, weakening Punjab’s stand on the dispute,” he said.
Haryana khaps put Punjab on two-day notice
Chandigarh, November 10
Haryana leaders today welcomed the Supreme Court decision even as Punjab and Haryana seemed to be headed for a confrontation.Haryana’s khaps served a two-day ‘notice’ on Punjab to start implementing the court decision failing which they would cut off Punjab from Delhi.An upbeat Chief Minister ML Khattar congratulated the people of the state, saying the decision paved the way for bringing Haryana’s legitimate share of 3.50 MAF from the Ravi-Beas waters through the SYL canal. Even as he alleged that the previous governments failed to get a Constitutional Bench constituted for a hearing on the Reference for 11 years, the Congress asked Khattar to urge the NDA government at the Centre to ‘presssure’ the SAD-BJP Government to honour the decision.
