SAD leaders briefly detained: Police deploy water cannons to stop Akalis on way to ‘debate’ SYL with Mann

Addressing the party workers before being detained, Badal said, “The chief minister challenged me to a debate on the SYL, which I accepted and announced that I would come to his residence today to debate all facets of the case. I thought the CCM will receive us in the same manner in which former CM Parkash Singh Badal used to meet protesters coming to his residence including Bhagwant Mann and the AAP leadership. But he chose to flee to Madhya Pradesh with Arvind Kejriwal rather than facing me and the SAD,” said Badal.

At the protest site, the Akali workers brought a chair with a sticker, mentioning ‘mukh mantri’, (chief minister) Punjab, pasted on it and said the CM “ran away” from the debate.
On October 8, Mann had challenged the BJP, Congress and the Akali Dal for an open debate on issues relating to the state on November 1.

Badal slammed the successive Congress governments in 1955 and 1976 for sharing the state’s river waters with Rajasthan and Haryana. He said Badal Sr tried to correct this “injustice” by filing a case in the Supreme Court challenging Article 78 of the Reorganization Act, which bestowed power to the central government to allocate water resources to the new states.

“However, former prime minister Indira Gandhi, in 1981, prevailed upon (the then chief minister) Darbara Singh to withdraw this case and agree to construction of the SYL canal,” he said.
Badal said the AAP government told the Supreme Court that it was ready to build the canal but the opposition parties were not allowing it. “The AAP is readying to give more of the state’s river waters to Haryana and Rajasthan to derive political advantage in the forthcoming assembly elections”.
Badal also lashed out at the Mann government over several issues including for the alleged deteriorating law and order and “rising” state’s debt.

Pointing towards “unprecedented increase in drug menace”, SAD chief said, “Drugs is the real reason behind the friction between the CM and the Governor.. The Governor had told the chief minister that drugs were being sold in liquor vends in Ludhiana. However when no action was taken in the matter the Governor informed the NCB, which seized drugs being sold openly from 66 vends in Ludhiana”.
The SAD president alleged that every section of society had been “betrayed” by the AAP government which had not fulfilled any of the promises made to Punjabis.

He said the government had failed to fulfil its promise to give Rs 1,000 per month to all women in the state, besides unemployment allowance and old age pension allowance of Rs 2,500 per month each, regularization of all contractual employees, revival of the old pension scheme, wiping out of the drug menace and an end to VVIP culture.