SYL: Leaders in catch-22 ahead of Punjab elections

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 17

The Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue, which has once again heightened bitterness between the two neighbouring states, has put many political leaders from Haryana, who campaigned in Punjab for elections in the past, in a tricky situation.

Leaders of almost all political parties – the BJP, the Congress and the INLD – had been campaigning for their respective parties during elections in Punjab and likewise, politicians from the neighbouring state campaigned in Haryana.

The INLD, for instance, had been sending a large number of its workers to the neighbouring districts of Punjab for campaigning for SAD candidates while senior Akali leaders used to come to Haryana for campaigning.

Such have been the relations between top leadership of the INLD and the SAD that Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal campaigned for the party in Haryana during the 2014 polls even as the INLD was contesting against the BJP, SAD’s alliance partner in Punjab.

In the 2009 and 2014 Assembly elections, the SAD won one seat each in Haryana in alliance with the INLD.

However, things have changed. The INLD snapped its political ties with the SAD after the Punjab State Assembly passed a resolution against the construction of the SYL canal in March this year. “We are not going to support any political party in Punjab this time,” confirmed Ashok Arora, INLD state president.

Congress leaders of both states, too, have been campaigning in each other’s state in the past. However, the current rancour has forced Congress leaders from Haryana to hold back this time.

Former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda has rather demanded imposition of the President’s rule in Punjab and its continuation till the construction of the canal was completed under the supervision of the Centre. “I will definitely go to Punjab for campaigning, if I am invited. But I will demand Haryana’s share of SYL waters in my speeches,” Hooda told The Tribune. Captain Abhimanyu, a senior minister in the Khattar government, is in a catch-22 situation as he has been appointed the party’s co-in-charge of campaign in Punjab.

Though Abhimanyu said after the SC verdict that both states would find an amicable solution to the issue, it was to be seen how he will strike a balance between interest of his own state and those of Punjab.