Give Punjab royalty on foodgrains: Badal

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today sought "royalty on water and foodgrain" similar to that given to states supplying coal and minerals.
"Union government must give royalty on water and food grains to the state (Punjab) on the pattern of the same given to other states for supplying coal and other minerals in the country," Badal said here on the sidelines of a conference to mark the Shaheedi Jor Mela today.
Despite state farmers overexploiting natural resources including water, to make country self-sufficient in foodgrain, Centre did not recognise this immense contribution, he said.
"It was high time that the nation must repay the peasantry of the state by giving them royalty on water and food grains supplied to the country," Badal said.

Earlier, addressing the gathering during the conference, Badal said that the single agenda of the SAD was to make Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi the Prime Minister of the country to usher in "a new era of unprecedented development" in the state.
To a query on possibility of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidates contesting Lok Sabha polls from other states, the Chief Minister said it would be decided after deliberations with the BJP.

He said Modi's rally in February will act as a "death knell" for Congress and exhorted people to take inspiration from people of the five state where Congress was wiped out in the recently held Assembly elections.

"All of you must take inspiration from the voters of Delhi, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh to teach the corrupt and inefficient Congress party a lesson by routing them out of power from Centre," he said.
Badal lashed out at UPA for exposing itself as weak on internal and external security, saying that while neighbouring countries were "flexing muscles", Naxalism was challenging the nation from inside.