Chandigarh:

Rasing the SYL issue, Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar Thursday said his party will not allow even a drop of water to go out of the state and will make any sacrifice required to preserve the rights and interests of every Punjabi.

He slammed Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann over the Sutlej Yamuna Link canal issue, accusing him of “deliberately hatching a conspiracy to dilute Punjab’s stand in and outside the Supreme Court”.

“This is a vicious conspiracy against the very future of Punjab which has sacrificed so much for the nation,” Sunil Jakhar said, reacting to Punjab AAP MP Sandeep Pathak’s recent statement made in Haryana’s Karnal that the two sates should get their rightful share of eater.

“Our stand is very clear. Punjab’s share Punjab should get and Haryana’s share Haryana should get. No politics should be done on this,” Mr Pathak had said when reporters asked him that parties in Punjab were opposing giving water to Haryana.

Hitting out at Mr Pathak, Mr Jakhar said, “What could be more devastating to a true Punjabi than witnessing the state’s own Member of Parliament diluting and bartering Punjab’s interests in this manner for political gains in other states.” The BJP will never allow even a drop of water to go out of Punjab, and it will make any sacrifice required to preserve the rights and interests of every Punjabi, he said.

The core committee of the Punjab BJP, which met here, also passed a resolution seeking the chief minister’s resignation and vowed to protect relentlessly to stop the construction of the SYL and make any sacrifice for this.

The resolution also urged the union government to facilitate resolution of the pending river water matters as per constitutional provisions and riparian laws.

No attempt to jeopardise the state’s future for AAP’s “petty ploy” to garner political mileage will be tolerated, Mr Jakhar said.

He also mooted an idea to hold a conference of all well-meaning Punjabis before the November 1 PAU debate called by Chief Minister Mann in Ludhiana.

A consensus among all Punjabis over the water issue will only give a meaningful direction to the PAU debate, he said.

“I have accepted the Chief Minister challenge and I will not let him run away from the debate now. I will expose the true face of this government’s atrocious stand on Punjab’s water during the debate,” Mr Jakhar added.

Sunil Jakhar further said Punjab must also get its due share in all rivers including Yamuna and Ghaggar.

“Punjab’s right over Yamuna water must be restored,” Sunil Jakhar said.

Citing figures of the department of water resources, the former MP said Punjab is getting only 12.24 MAF (million acre feet) water and Haryana is already getting 13.30 MAF water.

Mann had dared Jakhar, Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and leader of opposition in Punjab assembly Partap Singh Bajwa and SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal for an open debate on issues concerning the state on November 1.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Chandigarh:

A day after the state’s vigilance department filed a case against him in connection with alleged irregularities in the purchase of a property in Bathinda, the Punjab Police today issued a Look-Out Circular (LOC) at all airports against former finance minister and BJP leader Manpreet Singh Badal. 

Manpreet Badal had already filed a pre-arrest bail application, which was to come up for hearing on September 26, but his lawyer has now withdrawn it, saying they will approach the court with a fresh application now that a First Information Report, or FIR, has been registered.

An FIR under sections of the law relating to cheating, forgery, and criminal conspiracy, and 13(1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act — punishment for a public servant who commits criminal misconduct, in addition to the Information Technology Act, was registered against him, and five others, in a land allotment case. The Punjab Vigilance Bureau had conducted raids at his residence yesterday in Sri Muktsar Sahib district.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann yesterday took a swipe at Mr Badal, saying those who used to boast about honesty are now running from pillar to post to save their skin.

“There is a huge difference between speaking the truth and standing by it,” the chief minister said.

These leaders earlier used to say that they would wait for whatever action is taken against them, but are now seeking legal protection against arrest, he added.

BJP leader Sarup Chand Singla, who was earlier with the Shiromani Akali Dal, had alleged that Mr Badal, as a minister in the previous Congress government, had abused his position to convert two commercial plots into a residential plot for himself.

Mr Badal had joined the BJP after quitting the Congress in January this year.

After his questioning in July, Mr Badal had accused Chief Minister Mann of trying to suppress the voice of his political opponents with such action.