Dal (SAD) on Friday urged Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit to immediately dismiss Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for allegedly compromising the state’s interests while defending the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal case in the Supreme Court.

A high-level SAD delegation led by party president Sukhbir Singh Badal met the governor here and handed over a representation to him accusing tbe CM of “backstabbing” Punjab and Punjabis in the Supreme Court at the instance of Aam Aadmi Party Convener Arvind Kejriwal “who was hell bent on giving Punjab’s water to Haryana and even Rajasthan in direct violation of the Riparian Principle”.

Advertisement

The SAD president said the party would not allow one drop of water to go out of Punjab. He said there was no SYL canal in the state after the land on which the canal stood was transferred back to farmers in 2016 by former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal. “Neither do we have any water to give,” he added.

Badal said the SAD would terminate all water sharing agreements once it assumed power in the state and stop water flowing into Rajasthan. He also appealed to the Governor to recommend to the Central government to bring in legislation in Parliament “to correct the historic injustice meted out to Punjab on the SYL canal issue and settle it once and for all on the Riparian Principle under which Punjab has an inalienable right over all water flowing in its territory”.

The SAD delegation said any attempt to hold forcible surveys by the Central government with the intention of transporting the state’s waters to Haryana was likely to result in the eruption of a volcano of anger amongst the State peasantry which would be difficult of control. “This step will also not be conducive to peace in the sensitive border State,” it said.

The delegation said the AAP government in the apex court expressed its willingness to construct the SYL canal but for pressure from opposition parties as well as difficulties in acquiring land for the canal which had been returned back to farmers by the erstwhile SAD government.

The delegation said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced that Haryana and Delhi should be given water through the SYL canal and how the Delhi government filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court in April 2016 asserting both Haryana and Delhi should be granted their share of water from the SYL canal. “AAP has also promised to ensure water from the SYL reaches each and every corner of Haryana in case it forms the government in the State in 2024,” the delegation said.