With President Ram Nath Kovind not giving him time for a meeting, Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh today announced that he will lead a relay ‘dharna’ (sit-in demonstration) of his Congress MLAs at Delhi’s Rajghat ~ the Mahatma Gandhi memorial ~ tomorrow to highlight the state’s power crisis and critical essential supplies situation amid the Centre’s “refusal” to allow movement of goods trains there due to farmers’ agitation against its new farm laws.

As the crisis triggered by the suspension of goods trains aggravated further in Punjab, resulting in complete shutdown of all power plants as well as curtailment of agricultural and vegetables supplies, the CM said he has decided to hold a symbolic relay dharna at Rajghat to bring the state’s grim situation to the Centre’s attention.

Since Section 144 has been in place in Delhi, Punjab Congress MLAs numbering 78 will go from Punjab Bhawan in the national capital to the ‘samadhi’ of Father of the Nation in batches of four only, Capt Amarinder said, adding that he will lead the first batch at 10.30 am tomorrow.

He repeated his appeal to MLAs of other Punjab parties to also join such dharnas in the interest of the state, which was facing a dire situation at present with the last of the private power plants also shutting down today.

The private power plant run by GVK has announced it will close down operations today since coal stocks had run out.

The public and other private power plants in the state had already shut down their operations earlier.

The CM said the situation on the ground was grim as Punjab had run out of coal, urea and other essential supplies due to the decision of the Railways not to ply goods trains even after the farmers eased their blockade to allow such movement.

With its bid for power purchase not cleared for today, the state was facing extreme power shortage, all agricultural and vegetable supplies had been curtailed, and high loss feeders power supply had been cut, Capt Amarinder said, adding that the people of Punjab were staring at a dark festival season.

Further, the “continued and inexplicable suspension” of the goods trains by the Railways was also having serious consequences for other states such as Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh, the CM pointed out, repeating his warning of the armed forces becoming “sitting ducks for the enemies” if they do not get their essential supplies before the winter snow sets in.

The central government’s “step-motherly treatment” towards Punjab was pushing it into a deep crisis, charged Capt Amarinder, terming the recent developments as against India’s Constitution mandated federal character.

The situation, if not checked, could snowball into a major catastrophe and spell doom for the nation, whose foundations were built on the ethos of democratic federalism, the CM warned.