Four days before the launch of their separate outfits, former INLD leader Ajay Chautala's son Digvijay on Wednesday took a veiled dig at his uncle Abhay Singh Chautala, saying holding public meetings in Haryana will not help get SYL canal waters for the state.
Haryana's main opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) on December 1 had started a 'Jan Adhikar Yatra' from Kurukshetra on various issues including the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal.
Former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala's elder son Ajay Chautala had last month announced to launch a new party on December 9, saying it will contest next year's assembly elections and the Lok Sabha polls from all 10 seats in the state.
Ajay Chautala's new party is being launched following a split last month in the INLD, a result of the power struggle between him and his younger brother Abhay Chautala.
Ajay and his two sons Digvijay and Hisar MP Dushyant were expelled from the party last month.
After the 'Jan Adhikar Yatra' started from Jyotisar, Kurukshetra, leader of opposition Abhay Singh Chautala gave a clarion call to the people of Haryana to launch a decisive struggle on the SYL issue.
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In the recent past, the INLD had launched "jail bharo" agitation on the SYL issue.
"Holding public meetings and rallies across the state will not help the state get SYL waters," Digvijay told reporters in Karnal, where he met supporters ahead of launch of separate outfit on December 9 by the Ajay Chautala's camp.
"It has been decided that once our party is formed, we will move the Supreme Court by becoming a party (on SYL issue) like people approach the court on other issues," said Digvijay, the grandson of INLD President Om Prakash Chautala.
On 'Jan Adhikar Yatra' started by the INLD under Abhay's leadership, Digvijay said: "Abhay ji doing this, let him continue with it, that is his decision. But I believe that the fight on SYL has to be fought either by pursuing the issue with the Centre or moving the apex court or by convincing the Punjab government (asking it to give Haryana's share). Holding rallies in Haryana is not going to get us SYL waters," he added.
Addressing a public meeting in Rewari on Wednesday, Abhay reiterated that when all the legal hurdles have been removed in giving Haryana its share of river water through the SYL canal, "but the BJP government in Delhi and Haryana is finding new excuses to deprive the farmers of the state of their legitimate rights".
He said the SYL canal was vital to the existence and sustenance of Haryana, and in its absence, the state was facing a catastrophic future since it was facing the threat of parched lands by also losing groundwater in the absence of river water.
Ajay Chautala, who is undergoing a 10-year jail term with father Om Prakash Chautala since 2013 in a teachers' recruitment scam, is currently lodged in Tihar jail and had been out on parole for a brief period last month.
Over the past couple of weeks, Ajay's MLA-wife Naina and two sons Dushyant and Digvijay have been holding public meetings and galvanising support ahead of the launch of the new outfit in Jind.
Dushyant addressed one such meeting in Fatehabad on Wednesday, where he said time has come to "usher in a new change".