Badal hits out at Amarinder on SYL issue

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today termed as a "political gimmick" Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh's remark that Congress MLAs will resign en masse in case of an adverse verdict on the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal.
Badal instead asked the Congress Lok Sabha MP why he did not resign when the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi laid the foundation of this canal to "rob" the waters of state.
Addressing a public gathering during 'Sangat Darshan' in Bhadaur assembly segment, Badal said the people who were the perpetrators of "this grave conspiracy against Punjab and its people" were now trying to attain the status of a martyr.

When the former chief minister and other Congress leaders were welcoming Gandhi for laying the foundation stone of the SYL in the 1980s the entire Akali leadership was courting arrest
to safeguard the interest of state, Badal claimed.
"(The) Captain can't just run away from the onus of being hand-in-glove in a conspiracy to deprive the state," he said.

The PCC president had said on Sunday that Congress MLAs in Punjab will resign en mass in case the Supreme Court verdict on the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal case goes against the state.
Badal dared the state Congress chief to tell the people that it was the Congress which had planned and dug the canal.

"Every Congressman from state was a part and parcel to this conspiracy and Amarinder was not an exception to it," he said.
Assailing the Captain for misleading the people on SYL canal issue, Badal said the PCC chief's remark on resignations of Congress MLAs was keeping in mind the assembly elections.
He said the people of Punjab must remain assured that Shiromani Akali Dal would protect the waters of the state.
"We had, we are and we will not allow any single drop of water to go to any other state," Badal said.
He said even the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was following in the footprints of Congress by adopting an anti-Punjab stance.

He said an affidavit by the Delhi government, run by AAP, in Supreme Court on SYL termed Punjab's stand on the issue as unconstitutional and anti-national.
Badal said as Kejriwal hailed from Haryana so he was naturally inclined to safeguard the interests of his state.
"Kejriwal has no affection with Punjab or its people and his sole intention is to wrest political power in the state to benefit his native state Haryana," added Badal.