Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s demand for allotment of land in Chandigarh, which is a Union Territory,  to construct the state’s own Assembly and High Court buildings has sparked a war of words with the Opposition accusing him of giving-up “Punjab’s right on its capital Chandigarh”.

Even as the  CM on Monday slammed the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leadership for diluting the claim of the state over Chandigarh, the SAD alleged  Mann “sold Punjab’s right on its capital Chandigarh at the insistence of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Convener Arvind Kejriwal for petty political gains in Haryana”.

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SAD  leader Dr Daljit Singh Cheema said the Punjab CM jeopardised the state’s right over Chandigarh by asking the Union government to allot land to the state for a new Assembly and High Court in the Union Territory when it already has both institutions. While Punjab and Haryana currently have separate Assemblies in a building, both states currently have a High Court in Chandigarh.  

Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring maintained that Chandigarh belongs to Punjab and there was no logic in allotting land to Haryana to raise an Assembly building in Punjab’s capital.  

Defending his demand for land in Chandigarh for a separate Punjab Legislative Assembly building and High Court, Mann asked if he had given in writing that Punjab had no claim over Chandigarh. The Punjab CM, however, accused the SAD leadership for diluting the state’s claim on Chandigarh, which is joint capital of both Punjab and Haryana. 

“Everyone knows who shifted the state government offices from Chandigarh to Mohali and formed the New Chandigarh” Mann said after paying obeisance at Sri Harmandir Sahib (Amritsar) along with his wife, mother and sister.

He said SAD’s Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal had connived with the governments at the Centre to dilute the claims of Punjab over Chandigarh. The CM said Badals have remained mum for the sake of their vested political interests adding even Congress leadership remained mute spectators on the entire matter. He said that Akalis and Congress were trying to score brownie points by issuing baseless statements  before the media.

Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday announced separate land for setting up an additional Haryana assembly building in Chandigarh. This was after  Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar made a demand for building a separate state Assembly in Chandigarh during a meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Jaipur.  Following this, Mann demanded similar land for Punjab in a tweet.

मेरी केंद्र सरकार से अपील है कि हरियाणा की तर्ज पर पंजाब के लिए भी अपनी विधानसभा बनाने के लिए चंडीगढ़ में जमीन आवंटित की जाए…

लंबे समय से मांग है कि पंजाब-हरियाणा हाईकोर्ट को भी अलग-अलग किया जाए…इसके लिए भी कृपया करके केंद्र सरकार चंडीगढ़ में जमीन मुहैया करवाए…

— Bhagwant Mann (@BhagwantMann) July 9, 2022