Facing flak from the opposition for alleged failure to put up Punjab’s case effectively to get a favourable Supreme Court decision over the SYL issue, which has been a bone of contention between Punjab and Haryana for the past several years, the chief minister, Bhagwant Mann, took on the opposition parties by accusing them of deceiving the state and its people, on Wednesday.

Mann dared the state Bharatiya Janata Party chief, Sunil Jakhar; the Shiromani Akali Dal chief, Sukhbir Singh Badal; and two senior Congress leaders, Partap Singh Bajwa and Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, and told them “not to forget the sins of their ancestors before shedding crocodile tears on issue of SYL canal.”

Accusing these leaders of indulging in theatricals to mislead the people of the state, the Punjab CM said the ancestors of these leaders have sown thorns for the state and its younger generations by indulging in this unpardonable crime of constructing the SYL “for the sake of their vested interests.”

Mann said Balram Jakhar, who was the father of Sunil Jakhar and a former Union minister, along with Captain Amarinder Singh, who was earlier with the Congress but currently in the BJP, had accompanied Indira Gandhi, who was then the prime minister, to perform the ground-breaking ceremony of SYL at Kapuri, Patiala.

On the SAD’s role, Mann said former Haryana chief minister Devi Lal had hailed his then-counterpart in Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal, for “allowing the survey” of the canal.

Having challenged the opposition for an open debate on the issues pertaining to the state on November 1, the CM asked Badal to bring the papers of Oberoi Hotel in Gurugram – the land for which was allegedly given to Badal family after then-Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal agreed for acquisition of land for SYL, in line with Devi Lal’s desires – before coming for the debate.

Mann maintained that Punjab had no water to spare with any other state and the waters of the state would be preserved by all means.

The Punjab assembly opposition leader, Bajwa, however, challenged the CM to clarify his party’s as well as his government’s stand when the team comes to Punjab for the SYL’s survey on the Supreme Court’s instructions.

“Will you help stop that survey and explain why your legal team weakened Punjab’s case in the Supreme Court?” the Congress leader posted on X. He had earlier alleged the legal representatives of the Punjab government in the recent Supreme Court hearing on the SYL canal backstabbed the state.

Jakhar questioned the CM’s choice of Tagore Theatre in Chandigarh as the venue for debate on SYL. The Punjab BJP chief said he was not a theatre artist and does not do comedy like the CM, who was a comedian before entering politics.  The BJP leader alleged that by doing this, the Punjab government was trying to divert attention from the issue.

The SAD is appealing to Punjabis not to allow any central team wanting to conduct the SYL canal land’s survey to enter the state.

The 214-kilometre SYL canal was conceptualized for the allocation of water from the Ravi and Beas rivers in Punjab to Haryana, which was carved out of undivided Punjab in 1966. Out of the total length of the canal, for which the work had begun in 1982, 122 kilometres was to be constructed in Punjab and 92 kilometres in Haryana.

While Haryana has completed its part of the canal, Punjab shelved the project, and later passed a law to cancel the agreement with Haryana over SYL. It even denotified about 5,000 acres of land acquired for the canal.