Punjab BJP chief Vijay Sampla today lauded the SAD-BJP government for "laying to rest" the Sutlej-Yamuna-Link (SYL) canal issue and accused state Congress chief Amarinder Singh of "ditching" the people "in this hour of crisis".
A special session of the Punjab Assembly today unanimously passed two resolutions on the SYL issue, directing the state government not to "hand over land to any agency" and also "not to allow anyone to work for the construction of the Sutlej-Yamuna-Link canal."
The second resolution said the state government should take up the matter with the Centre and neighbouring states for levying "cost and royalty" on release of water.
"Finally, Punjab's Akali-BJP government today lay to rest the issue. I congratulate Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his entire cabinet for taking this strong step to save Punjab's waters," he said here.
Lashing out at the state Congress chief, Sampla alleged, former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is demanding President's Rule in Punjab and Amarinder is "desperately hoping" for a crisis situation in which all MLAs and MPs are forced to resign and President's Rule is imposed in the state.
Forty-two Congress MLAs had announced their resignation from the Assembly last week, though the Assembly Speaker had earlier said the "matter was under consideration".
Continuing his tirade against Amarinder, Sampla alleged, "His vision is just limited to 2017 assembly polls. He does not want the government to stand like a rock for Punjab's interests. He wants its continuous history of betrayals to gather dust and Haryana take away water with courts' help."
"May be he thinks that if Punjab is deprived of water the Akali-BJP government will be castigated," he said.
"The black chapter of Congress' raj is closed. The people of the state firmly believe that only SAD-BJP government can serve and protect their interests," Sampla claimed.
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