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No secret pact with Haryana on SYL, says Punjab CM Amarinder Singh

With Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) alleging Punjab government’s secret pact with Haryana over the contentious issue of Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL)…

No secret pact with Haryana on SYL, says Punjab CM Amarinder Singh

Captain Amarinder Singh (Photo: Facebook)

With Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) alleging Punjab government’s secret pact with Haryana over the contentious issue of Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday said there was no question of reaching any deal on the issue.

Amarinder expressed the confidence that the apex court and the Central government would come to an amicable solution to the SYL issue, keeping the interests of the water-scarce Punjab in mind.

However, if he ever needed to sign a pact with Haryana in the interest of Punjab and its people, he would do so openly and not go for any secret dealings, the CM declared. SAD’s member of Parliament(MP), Prem Singh Chandumajra, had alleged that Amarinder is “attempting a secret pact with Haryana over the SYL,” and the CM skipped the all party meet scheduled on Wednesday as the Akali Dal would have questioned him over it.

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Responding to this, Amarinder accused Chandumajra of making baseless and frivolous allegations. He said the SYL issue was in the Supreme Court (SC) and there was no question of reaching any deal, secret or otherwise, with the Manohar Lal Khattar government.

“The SAD MP’s charges were sheer fabrication, with not an iota of truth in them,” said the CM, warning Chandumajra against any attempt to whip up passions on the sensitive SYL issue with such unfounded statements.

The government, said Amarinder Singh, would not allow anyone to disrupt the peace and stability of the state over any issue, including SYL, which was currently in the SC, with the Centre facilitating dialogue to resolve the issue. “It was the Akalis who believed and indulged in secret deals and political intrigues in order to promote their financial and political interests,” said Amarinder, adding that he had neither the time nor the inclination to engage in such activity. His government, said the CM, was busy trying to sort out the mess in which the erstwhile SAD-BJP regime had left the state and had, from the outset, favoured a dialogue under the Central government’s aegis to thrash out the SYL issue.

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