INLD raises SYL link canal issue, farmers' distress at rally

Haryana's main opposition party, the INLD, today upped the ante on the Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal issue, saying it will fight a "decisive battle" if the Union government fails to take up its construction soon.
Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leaders raised the issues delaying the linking of the two rivers through the canal and focused on the distressed farm sector at a rally to mark the 104th anniversary of former deputy prime minister Devi Lal.
Ajay Chautala, who is serving a 10-year term in the teachers' recruitment scam case and currently out of Tihar Jail on a parole, addressed the 'Samman Divas Sammaroh' rally.

He was attending the annual rally after five years.
His brother and opposition leader in Haryana assembly, Abhay Chautala, said the Supreme Court made it clear that the canal has to be built and Punjab "must give the due share of water to Haryana," yet the construction has not begun.
"If the Centre fails to take up its construction soon, we will launch a decisive battle and a massive stir," he said.

He said the agitation this time would be like 'Nyaya Yudh', a protest launched in 1987 to seek justice for Haryana.
He attacked the BJP government in Haryana for failing to exert pressure on the Centre to take up the canal issues, saying the party made tall promises before the state polls, but it failed to fulfil them.

Abhay Chautala also hit out at the stat government for allegedly failing to tackle the matters related to the Dera Sacha Sauda and its head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.
Ajay Chautala said farmers, traders and students, "every section is fed up and has lost hope" in the state government.
"During past three years, hollow slogans and false promises were made and attempts were made to play with people's sentiments," he said.
Dushyant Chautala, MP from Hisar, and INLD's state unit chief Ashok Arora also attended the rally, apart from JD(U) leader K C Tyagi.