Dubbing Punjab Congress leader Sunil Jakhar’s proposed agitation on the Sutlej Yamuna link (SYl) canal issue as “political gimmickry”, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Wednesday accused his party of depriving the State of its water by conceiving the controversial project.
Badal, speaking on the sidelines of a Sangat Darshan programme in Garhshankar Assembly segment, said that 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 Capt 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 that the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) had opposed it tooth and nail.
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 that AAP, like Congress, was suffering from “anti-Punjab syndrome” which has been exposed by the policies pursued by it in Delhi.
Badal said that 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 that 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.
Slamming the Congress party for hatching conspiracies to ruin the state , the Chief Minister said that Congress was the enemy number one state and it has always pursued the policy of divide and rule with the sole aim of grabbing power in the state.