Reacting to the statement of Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) president Sukhbir Singh Badal, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab said that in his statement Sukhbir Badal accepted facts about Balasar farm, canal and Gurgaon plot. AAP said that the Badal family has been misleading Punjabis for decades but now that the chief minister Bhagwant Mann brought out documents of their betrayal to the state, Sukhbir Badal is forced to dig out old documents too.
Addressing a press conference from the party office in Chandigarh on Friday, AAP Punjab chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang launched an attack on Sukhbir Badal and said that Prakash Singh Badal's letter dated 4th July 1978 is on record where he demanded money from Haryana to construct the SYL canal. The Supreme Court attested letters of Prakash Singh Badal and said in its decision that the Punjab government is ready to construct the SYL canal. Because of the Badal family, the Punjab government lost the case in the Supreme Court.
Taking a dig at the Akali Dal Badal, Kang said that their sacrifice in saving Punjab's water is that while the Punjabis were fighting for the Riparian rights of the state and sacrificed their lives, the Badal family sent their children to America. He added that now Akali Dal is saying that Prakash Singh Badal was daily going to Morarji Dessai to save Punjab's water then why they were writing letters demanding funds from Haryana to construct SYL and why the honorable court noted that the Punjab government want to construct SYL at the earliest.
Kang said that Giani Zail Singh accepted the first cheque of 1 crore from Haryana to construct the canal, then in July 1978 Badal government wrote to Haryana for 3 crore rupees and received 1.5 crore on March 31st, 1979. Kang added that Bhakra Main Line was built in 1955 it is true but Balasar Canal was dry till 2004. It was an unwritten agreement of the Badal family with the Haryana's Chautalas that their farms got water after that.
Kang further said that in 2007 Badals again formed their government in Punjab on the promise to terminate section 5 of the water termination act of Captain Amarinder Singh but after the formation of their government and staying in power for 10 years, they never actually terminated that clause. He added that Haryana and Rajasthan continued to get additional water. Haryana gets 4.35 maf from Sutlej and 1.62 maf from Ravi-Beas when these two rivers never even touched the land of Haryana. Kang asked who's fault is that? They even raised banks of BML by 1-1.5 feet to give more water to Haryana.
Kang said that these people only looted Punjab and its resources and used them to take favours from other parties. Kang concluded that the Badal family is responsible for the land acquisition for the SYL, for losing the case in the Supreme Court, for robbing Punjab of its Riparian rights and they should apologise for that from the people of Punjab. He said that they always put their vested interests above the interest of Punjab and Punjabis.