CHANDIGARH: Criticising the Aam Aadmi Party’s statement of operating their office from outside the Raj Bhawan in Chandigarh due to the refusal of land for their party office, leader of opposition in Punjab assembly Partap Singh Bajwa on Saturday said the AAP should have held protest demonstrations when the state’s legitimate rights on its river waters and its capital were under attack.
“Why doesn’t the AAP leadership in Punjab get agitated when the attempts are made to curtail Punjab’s rightful claims on river waters and Chandigarh? For the last couple of weeks, the plan is being made to provide 10 acre land to Haryana to build a Vidhan Sabha in Chandigarh, but Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann and his cabinet did not go any further than opposing the same in the media statements,” Bajwa added.
The senior Congress leader said the Chandigarh civic body approved an agenda that would make four-wheelers registered outside the Tricity, including Punjab, pay two times the normal parking charges compared to the locally registered vehicles, such a decision diminished Punjab’s right on Chandigarh, yet it did not perturb the AAP government.
The CM should shed light on how the AAP’s office in Chandigarh would serve the greater interests of the Punjab and Punjabis, he said.
“The AAP government in Punjab is hell-bent on sacrificing Punjab’s claims on Chandigarh and river waters. The Punjab CM in a tweet had sought a piece of land in Chandigarh for Vidhan Sabha from the central government last year. The Punjab CM never cited the riparian law to claim Punjab’s rights on river waters during the meetings held lately. Such moves in fact weaken Punjab’s case,” he added.
The Qadian MLA also said the foremost preference of the AAP was apparently the party expansion. Punjab has never been on the agenda for the AAP leadership. They have been squandering taxpayers’ money on party expansion, Bajwa alleged.
