The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today urged Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit to immediately dismiss Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for compromising the state’s interests while defending the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal case in the Supreme Court.
A high-level SAD delegation led by party president Sukhbir Singh Badal met the Governor here and handed over a representation apprising him of the manner in which the Chief Minister had backstabbed Punjab and Punjabis in the Supreme Court at the insistence of AAP Convener Arvind Kejriwal who was hell-bent on giving Punjab’s water to Haryana and even Rajasthan in direct violation of the Riparian Principle.
The SAD president also asserted that the party would not allow one drop of water to go out of Punjab. “Na Nehar Banega, na Paani hai”, he asserted while emphasizing that there was no SYL canal in the State after the land on which the canal stood was transferred back to farmers in 2016 by former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal. “Neither do we have any water to give”, he added.
Badal also disclosed that the SAD would terminate all water-sharing agreements once it assumed power in the State. “We will stop water flowing into Rajasthan. He also appealed to the Governor to recommend to the central government to bring in legislation in parliament to correct the historic injustice meted out to Punjab on the SYL canal issue and settle it once and for all on the Riparian Principle under which Punjab has an inalienable right over all water flowing in its territory.
Meanwhile, the SAD delegation which included Bikram Singh Majithia, Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, Dr Sukhwinder Kumar and Anil Joshi apprised the union government of the ground situation in Punjab and asserted that any attempt to hold forcible surveys by the central government with the intention of transporting the State’s waters to Haryana was likely to result in the eruption of anger amongst the State peasantry which would be difficult of control. “This step will also not be conducive to peace in the sensitive border State”, it said.
