Chandigarh belongs to Punjab, Haryana’s real target is river waters: Navjot Sidhu

Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Monday said that Chandigarh belongs to Punjab and will always remain so, and predicted that the state’s “next big battle” with Haryana will be over river waters.

The Haryana government has summoned a special session of the assembly on Tuesday, days after the Punjab assembly passed a resolution seeking immediate transfer of the common capital Chandigarh to the Aam Aadmi Party-ruled state.

After the contentious resolution passed on April 1, Haryana leaders have also demanded the completion of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal for getting the state’s river water share from Punjab besides seeking transfer of 400 Hindi-speaking villages to the state.

“Built on 27 villages of Punjab, Chandigarh belonged to Punjab and will remain so,” Sidhu tweeted in Hindi. “Kahin pe nigahein, kahin pe nishana,” he further wrote, suggesting that the real target for Haryana was not Chandigarh, but the river waters.

“Chandigarh is just an excuse, the target is Punjab’s river waters. Beware the next big battle is for the river waters of Punjab,” he said. The SYL Canal issue has been a bone of contention between Punjab and Haryana for several decades. In the past, Punjab had been demanding a reassessment of its share of the Ravi-Beas river waters while Haryana had been seeking completion of the SYL Canal to get its share.

The former Punjab Congress chief, who lost the recent Punjab assembly elections, also tagged AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal, state chief minister Bhagwant Mann and Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar in his tweet.