Haryana Congress has demanded an all-party meeting before entering into any dialogue with the Punjab Government or the Centre on the issue of the Sutlej Yamuna link (SYl) canal.
Kiran Choudhry, leader of the Haryana Congress legislature Party on Monday said Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar should also revisit all parties and take them into confidence on any ‘compromise formula’ stitched up and suggested by the Centre to amicably resolve the long pending SYl issue,.
Ending any dispute through dialogue may be desired but this does not mean that the BJP Government in Haryana, tied to the apron-strings of the NDA Government at the Centre, should meekly submit to any way-out proposal tabled by the latter, Choudhry said.
“The interests of the people and the farmers of Haryana are supreme and we shall not allow these to be sacrificed by the Manohar lal Government. Any digression from the path of getting the SYl constructed by Punjab and bringing the rightful share of the state in river waters will not be tolerated,” she added.
Notably, the Supreme Court had on September 7 granted six weeks time to the Centre to explore the possibility of an amicable solution to the SYl canal dispute between neighbouring States of Punjab and Haryana. Following this, the opposition parties had lashed out at the BJP-led Central and Haryana Governments for delaying the issue deliberately.
Both Indian National lok Dal and Congress had criticised the BJP Government for its failure to begin the construction of SYl canal and for its anti-farmer stand. Punjab and Haryana have been at loggerheads over the SYl canal issue since decades.
While Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had expressed hope that the contentious issue could be resolved through dialogue, the ruling BJP in Haryana has maintained that the SC directions for construction of SYl canal should be implemented.