BALLUANA (FAZILIKA): Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today rejected the call for a debate given by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann and also dubbed the proposed Vidhan Sabha session as cheap and useless and asked Bhagwant Mann to come and visit the beleaguered cotton growers and other farmers reeling under governmental neglect.
Referring to the SYL debate with Bhagwant Mann, Mr Badal said , “There is no Point discussing anything with a puppet CM who has no powers nor courage to take any decisions. I dare him to field his master "Actual CM" Arvind Kejriwal to face us. I am ready.”
Talking to newsmen here, the SAD president said “the forthcoming two day Vidhan Sabha session is being called solely to satisfy the ego of one person – Bhagwant Mann who wants to be the only person to give a live speech which will be forcibly aired even as all others will be silenced or simply ignored”.
He said the session would do nothing for the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal as the Governor had already declared it illegal. “This means, like the earlier session, the Governor will not give his assent to any business conducted in the house”.
Answering a question, Mr Sukhbir Badal said “I am very clear. I have no problem debating the SYL canal issue threadbare. But I don’t want to conduct this debate with a puppet like Bhagwant Mann. It would be better if AAP fields his master "actual CM" – Arvind Kejriwal against me. I am open to debating all aspects of the SYL canal as well as sharing river waters with Kejriwal”. While reacting to another query, Mr Badal said the SAD was very clear. “Neither do we have a drop of water to spare nor is there any canal in Punjab to take the water to Haryana. Accordingly we will not allow any central team to enter Punjab and conduct any survey to rob us of our river waters”.
The SAD president also visited cotton fields in Balluana constituency to interact with farmers who are reeling under a pink bollworm attack. Expressing solidarity with farmers, Mr Badal condemned the chief minister for acting like Arvind Kejriwal’s driver and flying him across the country at the Punjab government’s expense. He said it was shocking that the government was yet to react to the pink bollworm attack and provide solace to farmers.
Stating that the "puppet chief minister" had repeatedly failed farmers, the SAD president said “farmers are waiting for compensation for repeated crop losses including the massive loss to the paddy crop during the devastating floods in July. He said this was the second time that a pink bollworm attack had damaged the cotton crop but the government was yet to provide any compensation to farmers.
Asking Bhagwant Mann to start block level visits to the State which had not been conducted since the last two years, Mr Badal said “come to the fields of Punjab. Witness how the farmers are suffering. How they have been indebted due to your failure to come to their aid in times of crisis. See the manner in which the drug menace which is sponsored and patronized by your ministers and legislators is destroying Punjabis. This would be better than holding empty debates to cover your failures.
Party Balluana halqa incharge Gurtej Singh Ghuriana and newly appointed Abohar halqa incharge Harbinder Singh Harry Sandhu and Kaur Singh Bahawala were also present on the occasion.