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:

The BJP’s Punjab president, Sunil Jakhar, on Monday voiced concern over the state’s financial situation saying that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government was heavily in debt.

Saying that he feared for the state’s future, the former Congress leader quoted the extent of the state’s debt at Rs 2,42,000 crores.

Mr Jakhar claimed that even PSUs in the state were in debt, adding that the Bhagwant Mann government was “misleading” the people.

Speaking to ANI on Monday, Mr Jakhar said, “I can only see darkness ahead. There is a debt of Rs 2,42,000 crore debt on one side, and on the other hand, the PSUs of Punjab including Punjab Power Corporation and other undertakings are also under fiscal stress with a combined debt of Rs 3,50,000 crore. The Punjab government has taken the guarantee for bailing these undertakings out of distress but the money will be paid from the public exchequer,” the BJP state president said.

“There will be a Rs 12,000 debt on every person. A child born today will also have to bear the state’s debt burden. The AAP government’s dole of Rs 1,000 per person, every month, is a ploy to mislead the people about the state’s fiscal situation. While only Rs 1,000 will go to a family every month, the Punjab government has taken a loan worth Rs 50,000 crore for this purpose,” added Mr Jakhar.

Earlier, on Monday, Sunil Jakhar welcomed the Centre’s decision to suspend visas for Canadians in the light of the ongoing diplomatic spat over the Khalistan issue, saying that Canada has mortgaged its foreign policy for the sake of political advantage and (Prime Minister) Justin Trudeau was running a “minority government”.

“Justin Trudeau is speaking his supporters’ language. Canada has mortgaged its foreign policy,” said Mr Jakhar.

The BJP leader said, “With the Trudeau govt continuing to support the separatist forces, the Indian government, for the time being, and upon careful consideration, has suspended visas (to Canadians) as part of a policy to uphold India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity by stopping these forces from entering the country.”

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