Adding a new angle to the already raging controversy between Punjab and Haryana over the issue of ‘transfer of Chandigarh’, the Union Minister for Jal Shakti and BJP in-charge for Punjab affairs Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Wednesday said that the people of Chandigarh should be consulted if they want to go with Punjab.
“People should be consulted before any such move,” said Shekhawat while responding to a media query regarding the BJP’s stand on transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab. Shekhawat was in Mohali as a part of the party’s strategy to visit the parliamentary constituencies in the state to connect with the people.
Transfer of Chandigarh has been a long pending issue between the sister-states of Punjab and Haryana with both staking claims over its capital city.
Also commenting on the incident of vandalization of a church in Tarn Taran, Shekhawat said that the Punjab Government should take action against the culprits. “I would say that Punjab is a land where ‘gurus’ have sacrificed their lives to protect religion and if the religious conversions are taking place, the State Government should also look into this,” he said.
Commenting on the release of ‘Bandi Sikhs’, Shekhawat said that one prisoner is lodged in a Delhi jail and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal can better tell the status. “The other prisoner is in Karnataka and his matter is pending in the court,” he added.