42 Cong MLAs quit, Capt as MP
Friday, 11/11/2016
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/42-cong-mlas-quit-capt-as-mp/321732.html
Chandigarh : Within hours of the Supreme Court announcing its verdict on the controversial SYL issue, 42 Congress MLAs resigned from the Punjab Assembly today while state party chief Capt Amarinder Singh quit his Lok Sabha seat.
Congress MLAs, led by Leader of the Opposition Charanjit Singh Channi, will submit their resignations to the Vidhan Sabha Speaker tomorrow and so will Independent MLA from Mukerian Rajesh Babbi.
However, Lok Sabha MPs Ravneet Singh Bittu and Chaudhary Santokh Singh and Rajya Sabha members Ambika Soni, Shamsher Singh Dullo and Partap Singh Bajwa have not quit.
“I have resigned as MP (from Amritsar) as I am the PPCC chief. It is not necessary for other party MPs to follow suit. My resignation is a protest against the deprivation of the people of Punjab of the much-needed Sutlej waters. The apex court’s decision is a bad day in the history of Punjab,” he told mediapersons here. He challenged AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal to spell out his stand in light of the ruling.
“The Congress will now go to the masses to expose the SAD-BJP government for failure to contest the state’s case effectively,” he said, recalling that it was following an agreement between the late Haryana Chief Minister Devi Lal and Parkash Singh Badal in 1978 that the stone for the SYL canal was laid.
Alleging that the “Akalis have let down the people on the critical issue”, he claimed while his government tried to protect Punjab’s interests through the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act 2004, the Akalis “have exposed the people to unprecedented hardship owing to their failure to safeguard their interests in the court”.
He cited evidence while accusing Badal of “selling” Punjab’s interests. “He was instrumental in acquiring land for the SYL canal in Punjab through a notification on February 20, 1978, and taking money from Haryana, weakening Punjab’s stand on the dispute,” he said.
