Badal lambasts Jakhar, AAP

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today dubbed as "political gimmickry" Congress leader Sunil Jakhar's proposed agitation on the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue and accused his party of depriving the state of its water by conceiving the controversial project.
Speaking on the sidelines of a Sangat Darshan programme in Garhshankar assembly segment here, he said he failed to understand why the Congress was protesting over the SYL issue when the party itself had approved of the project in the 1980s.
"Jakhar is now shedding crocodile tears on the issue while forgetting that incumbent Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh had welcomed (the then Prime Minister) Indira Gandhi to lay foundation of this canal in 1980s," said Badal.

Alleging that the Congress government had planned SYL to rob the waters of state, he said Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) had opposed it tooth and nail.
He said the Sangat Darshan was a transparent programme aimed at ensuring the well being of common man and added that he could not be deterred from carrying out this flagship programme of SAD-BJP alliance.
Badal also slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leadership for "misleading" the people of Punjab on emotive issues, as he termed the Arvind Kejriwal-led party as "a flock of enemies of state in the garb of 'Aam Aadmi' (common man)".

He said AAP, like Congress, was suffering from "anti-Punjab syndrome" which has been exposed by the policies pursued by it in Delhi.

He said AAP government in Delhi had discontinued teaching of Punjabi language in schools, didn't observe a holiday on sacred Baisakhi festival, demolished the Piau sahib outside Gurdwara Sisganjh Sahib and has submitted an affidavit against the Punjab in Supreme Court on SYL issue.
"These people (AAP) are working overtime against the interests of the state," Badal alleged.
The Chief Minister said the state government was working on a master plan to provide potable water and irrigation facilities to the residents of 'beet' or semi hilly areas in the state.