With the Haryana government offering land in Panchkula in lieu of land in Chandigarh for the construction of a new state assembly in the Union Territory (UT), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), on Monday, said Punjab has sole right over Chandigarh and Haryana will not be allowed to construct its separate legislative assembly in the city.

In a statement, AAP’s state chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said Chandigarh, which at present serves as joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, belongs to Punjab and will always remain so. He said that Chandigarh was established on the land of dozens of villages of Punjab.

The AAP spokesperson said AAP party and Punjab governments will vehemently oppose any proposal of the Haryana government to build its separate legislative assembly in Chandigarh. “The Haryana government has sought land for its separate legislative Assembly in Chandigarh. On the demand for land, the Aam Aadmi Party has categorically said that not an inch of land in Chandigarh will be given separately to Haryana. Haryana should build its legislative assembly in Panchkula, Karnal or elsewhere. Punjab has the sole right over Chandigarh,” Kang wrote in a tweet.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah had in July announced land for setting up an additional Haryana Assembly building in Chandigarh, accepting a long-pending demand of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

While Punjab had opposed the proposal of construction of a new Haryana Assembly building inside Chandigarh, Khattar maintains a new delimitation is proposed in 2026, on the basis of which the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections will be held in 2029. It is estimated that according to the population of Haryana in the new delimitation, the number of Assembly constituencies will be 126 and the number of Lok Sabha constituencies will be 14.

At present, there are 90 MLAs in the Haryana Assembly. The existing building, shared between Punjab and Haryana for their Assemblies, is a heritage building and has no capacity for expansion for future needs, wherein the numbers of MLAs are slated to increase after a fresh delimitation exercise.