{Water sharing row} All-party meet today, special House session on May 5

Amid a deepening standoff with the Centre over the Bhakra Beas Management Board’s move to release water to Haryana, the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday convened an emergency all-party meeting on Friday followed by a special session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on May 5 to discuss the contentious issue.

The twin decisions were made during a meeting convened at short notice on Thursday evening by chief minister Bhagwant Mann, which was attended by Punjab cabinet ministers, AAP legislators and party office-bearers. AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal was also present at the meeting.

The AAP leadership, which staged protests across Punjab throughout the day, called the meeting after the BBMB on Wednesday night decided to release 8,500 cusecs of water to Haryana from the Bhakra Dam, despite the Mann government’s objections. There were also demands from the opposition leaders, including Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, for an “emergency all-party meeting” to devise an effective strategy to save Punjab’s waters.

After the meeting, AAP state president Aman Arora said all major political parties in the state would be invited to the meeting to discuss issues related the central government’s attempts to usurp Punjab’s rights through the unfair allocation of water to Haryana by the BBMB. He said the state government would bring a special resolution on the water issue in the special session of the state assembly. “Come what may, we will not let the Centre trample upon the rights of Punjab. Both the state government and the party will fight this battle together,” said the AAP state chief, who was accompanied by half-a-dozen cabinet ministers and party legislators. Arora said the meeting would make it clear which party was with Punjab and which stood against it.

The general administration department (coordination branch) sent the invites for the meeting to Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, BJP state president Sunil Jakhar, AAP state president Aman Arora, BSP’s Punjab chief Avtar Singh Karimpuri, and Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s Punjab state committee secretary Sukhwinder Singh Sekhon. The meeting will be held at Punjab Bhawan in Chandigarh.

A cabinet minister, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Punjab government was also considering challenging the BBMB’s decision to reshuffle the officials in the midst of the current situation in court.

Mann also gave a clarion call to all the parties to unite and fight for safeguarding the interests of Punjab and Punjabis. “It is the high time that all the political parties rise above the parochial considerations and fight this war vehemently,” the chief minister said, reiterating his government’s commitment to safeguard the interests of the state on the river waters by all means. He also sought fulsome support and cooperation of all the political parties in this war.

The AAP government’s strong reaction follows the BBMB’s decision at a meeting in which representatives of Rajasthan and Delhi backed Haryana’s request for water for its drinking needs. The Punjab government had raised strong objections, stating there was no surplus water to share with Haryana as the state had already drawn its share for the period. The two states have had a long history of discord over their share and distribution of river waters.