Issue of displacement of Punjabi farmers to be taken up: Badal

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said he would take up the matter of displacement of Punjabi farmers in the Kutch region with his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi.
The state government would take every possible step to protect the interests of the Punjabis living in Gujarat, he told reporters here.
Lashing out at the Centre for its "failure" to check the supply of drugs from Pakistan border, Badal said that despite the efforts of the state government in this regard, the Union government has not initiated steps to check the menace.
The Union government has not banned the open sale of poppy husk in Rajasthan, he said.

On the surge in demand for creation of new states, Badal said the discriminatory policy of the Union government was responsible for it.
The Central government has failed to ensure the development of all states, the Chief minister said.

Badal said formation of Telangana state was a welcome step, adding that Centre should also consider the demands of smaller states "sympathetically".
With the centralisation of power by the Union government the federal structure of country has turned into unitary one due to which the state governments have virtually became "beggars".
Reiterating that only Punjab has legitimate right over Chandigarh, Badal said the Congress has done "grave injustice" with the state by depriving it from capital despite of the fact that the parent state has the first and foremost right over capital.