The Punjab Congress sought clarity from the state government on its agenda for the special Assembly session called to discuss the Sutlej-Yamuna link canal dispute. State party president Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday said the Congress would not take any decision on participating in the session called by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, unless the government provided an agenda for the session, The Times of India reported. The session is expected to begin on Wednesday.
Singh also sought assurance from the government that any legislation passed during the session would be approved by the governor and the Centre. The governor was yet to approve a Bill on the de-acquisition of land passed during the last session of the state Assembly, Singh said. He further said that the government needed to resign from the Assembly and call for early state elections if it was not ready to declare its agenda, adding that the party was ready to extend its support to the government to protect the state's water rights.
Meanwhile, the Haryana government said it will hold a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday to discuss the matter. The state unit of the BJP also called a meeting of its MLAs on the issue, PTI reported. However, the Opposition Indian National Lok Dal accused the Congress and the BJP of only making statements on the canal dispute and not making it clear if they supported Haryana or Punjab's stance. INLD leader Abhay Chautala said the party would seek an appointment with President Pranab Mukherjee to seek the imposition of President’s Rule in Punjab and demand the completion of the canal.
On November 11, all 42 legislators of the Congress resigned from the Punjab Assembly to mark their protest against a Supreme Court verdict, which struck down a Punjab law dismissing a pact to share water with five other states through the Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal. While pronouncing its verdict, the Supreme Court had also ordered a status quo on a recent resolution passed by the ruling SAD-Bharatiya Janata Party government, through which the Punjab government had denotified the land acquired to construct the canal to return the plots to farmers.
The Centre will now take over the construction of the conduit meant to distribute water among six states – Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Delhi.
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