The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) applauded Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for inviting all party presidents and leader of opposition for an open debate on all the burning issues of Punjab saying that it is an unprecedented initiative taken by the CM Mann to address all the issues in front of the people of Punjab. AAP also lambasted opposition leaders Sukhbir Singh Badal, Sunil Jakhar, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and Pratap Singh Bajwa for skipping this debate and running away from their accountability towards the people of the state.
Addressing a press conference from the party office in Chandigarh on Thursday AAP Punjab chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang, along with party spokespersons Babbi Badal, Govinder Mittal and Ravinder Singh, said that the CM invited all the leaders to discuss issues like SYL, BBMB, Chandigarh, Punjab's financial situation etc. but no party president including leader of opposition reached PAU yesterday to discuss these matters.
Kang said that later they all were holding press conferences to deliver their empty statements. He said that CM Mann supported his arguments with documented evidence and people like Sukhbir Badal, Sunil Jakhar and other leaders had no answers hence they were absent from the debate. Kang added that CM Mann revealed some new information about the favours that the Badal family took in return of giving Punjab's water to Haryana.
He said that there is a Balasar Canal for the farms of the Badal family and they also took 45 crore cheque from the Haryana government in 1998 to clean the Bhakra main line so that Haryana will get more water. He said that in the SAD press conference, by Prem Singh Chandumajra, Balwinder Singh Bhunder and Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, they conveniently skipped over the rule of Prakash Singh Badal from 1978-80 when he took cheques from Haryana government, notified land acquisition and added am emergency clause to acquire that land.
He added that thousands of Punjabis sacrificed their lives to save Punjab's water for two decades while children of the Badal family were in America and today they have the audacity to talk about sacrifices. Kang said that the 1998 Badal government again took a cheque of 45 crores from Haryana to clean the Bhakra main line so that Haryana can get more water. He said that today they show concern about Punjab's Riparian rights but who is responsible for all the water that Punjab has been giving to Haryana and Rajasthan for decades now.
Who lost the case in the Supreme Court in 2002. Kang said that there were times when Akali-BJP and Congress had their governments in Punjab as well as at centre but they never solved these issues. He questioned Raja Warring about the white paper, mentioning the so-called advantages of the SYL canal, brought by the Congress government in 1982 and Kapoori inauguration. He added that Dr Cheema was mentioning Kapoori da Morcha by Akali Dal but forgot that just two years after that Captain Amarinder Singh joined Akali Dal and was Agriculture Minister in the Akali government.
Kang said that had these people done right by Punjab all those times they had their governments there would have been no such issue as SYL today. AAP spokesperson asked Akali-BJP and Congress leaders to apologise to the people of Punjab for not safeguarding Punjab's interest and rights when they had their governments in the state. He said that Supreme Court asked the Mann government to implement their decision of 2002 when SAD failed to protect Punjab's right in the highest court of the country and lost the case, but Mann government refused to do so because Punjab has no water to spare.
Kang said that opposition leaders should give answers to the people of Punjab about land acquisition notification, Bhakra main line cleaning, cheques taken from Haryana, inauguration of SYL canal in Kapoori, white paper and why their government lost case in 2002 in the Supreme Court. He said that today Bikram Majitha is leveling baseless allegation against the Mann government that we compromised in the Supreme Court, so Kang challenged him to present documents to support his allegation saying that there is none. He added that they all are liars and they have no answers now.
Malvinder Kang reminded Sunil Jakhar that as Punjab Congress president, he used to say that centre government call solve issue of SYL in one minute but now he is in BJP, BJP has its government at centre as well as in Haryana so now Sunil Jakhar should ask PM Modi to solve this issue for the welfare of Punjab.