Left high and dry by Captain, PM tries to plug the breach

Summoned to Delhi, Amarinder met the PM in the evening. Earlier, Manmohan Singh, in a bid to placate other affected states, invited their chief ministers for talks. While the CMs of Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh are expected here tomorrow, Haryana’s Om Prakash Chautala met the PM this evening and later told reporters: ‘‘I told the PM (to) follow the Supreme Court verdict on the matter.’’

‘‘I also told him that if the situation being created in Punjab is not checked in time, it can lead to anarchy in the country. The PM assured that he will do justice to everyone… if there are problems in implementation of the verdict, we will move the SC,’’ Chautala said.

But Amarinder put up a brave face: ‘‘Why should I be reprimanded? The Congress president does not interfere in inter-state issues. We sort them out at our level. She is not only our leader but also of the party in Haryana, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh.’’

‘‘The Punjab government has notified the law and our stand is very clear. We have the right to protect our interests. Water usage of the other states is protected. We have nothing against the people of other states. In fact, when Rajasthan was in trouble, I sent them water.

‘‘We have the highest regard for the judiciary… we have been legally advised that we can (scrap previous pacts). This is not contempt of court. We have taken the step after considering every legal and constitutional provision,’’ he said.

There were also reports over the weekend that the Punjab CM had consulted former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee about the legal viability of the Bill. Sorabjee told The Indian Express: ‘‘He (the CM) held one conference with me three days ago. I gave him my advice. It was upto him to accept it or reject it.’’

Earlier this morning, Sonia, Manmohan, Law Minister HR Bhardwaj and Water Resources Minister Priya Ranjan Das Munshi met to undertake a damage control exercise and finalise what the PM should say in Parliament to quieten an agitated Opposition which forced adjournment of the House.

The situation was particularly difficult for the PM. It showed that either he did not know about what was going on in Punjab, a Congress-ruled state — and this indicated the failure of his party in Punjab, of the AICC general secretary in charge of the state, Water Resources Ministry which should have monitored what was going on— or it gave the impression that he was going along with what the Punjab CM did. It provoked BJP’s Sushma Swaraj to ask whether the PM was ‘‘sleeping.’’ Promising Parlliament that he would try and find an amicable solution to the tangle, the PM said he had called the CMs of the states concerned to find a way out.

The Akali Dal and the Chautala’s INLD may want to make use of the issue to put the Congress in the dock, though BJP leader Jaswant Singh made a conciliatory gesture in the Rajya Sabha today, saying that his party would cooperate with the government since it was a ‘‘sensitive’’ issue of ‘‘core national importance’’.

Leader of the Opposition LK Advani and Jaswant Singh called on the PM in the morning, lending their support to him in the effort to find a way out.

But they know that once an Act has been passed by a sovereign House and the law notified, restoring status quo ante is not easy. And for the moment, the Centre cannot act on the Supreme Court’s directive to it to construct the SYL Canal.

Congress MP Ashwini Kumar admitted that ‘‘while the Congress remains committed to maintaining the sanctity of the Constitution, and the party is duty bound to help the farmers of Punjab, there could be a serious challenge to the constitutionality of the measure.’’

Even as Amarinder Singh was going through the motions of getting the bill passed in the state assembly yesterday, he had reportedly sent letters to the Punjab MPs seeking their support for his move.

Even at that stage, several leaders are believed to have cautioned him about the constitutional viability and the political advisability of the step he was taking.

The Punjab move could open a Pandora’s box with other states declaring that they too would follow the Punjab example.

It could undo various accords and raise the question of the powers of judicial review being usurped by the legislature.

But the Captain too may have pre-empted any move there may have been to send him packing following the rout of the party in Punjab in the Lok Sabha and the SGPC elections. If the party high command sacks him now, he would be seen as someone who was punished for an act which is ‘‘pro-Punjab.’’