Haryana calls special Assembly session days after Punjab's move seeking transfer of Chandigarh

"A decision was taken to summon the special session of the Haryana Assembly on April 5. Several issues will be taken up in the special session, which has been summoned after Punjab brought a resolution..," Transport Minister Mool Chand Sharma said.

Chandigarh: The Haryana government has summoned a special session of the Assembly here on April 5, days after neighbouring Punjab passed a resolution seeking immediate transfer of Chandigarh to the AAP-ruled state. A decision to summon the one-day special session was taken at a meeting of the council of ministers, Transport Minister Mool Chand Sharma told the media over the phone. Sharma, who was in Faridabad, said he joined the meeting, presided over by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, through online mode.

"A decision was taken to summon the special session of the Haryana Assembly on April 5. Several issues will be taken up in the special session, which has been summoned after Punjab brought a resolution..," Sharma said. Earlier on Saturday, Chief Minister Khattar had condemned Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab for bringing a resolution seeking the transfer of Chandigarh to the state.

Notably, the resolution was passed by the Punjab Assembly on Friday in the absence of two BJP members who had staged a walkout from the House. Khattar had also asked AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann to seek an apology from the people of Haryana. "What the Punjab government has done is condemnable," Khattar said while replying to a question on the resolution.

"What they did is condemnable and it should not have been done," he said. Khattar said Kejriwal being the head of the Aam Aadmi Party should condemn it and apologise to the people of Haryana. Similarly, Punjab Chief Minister Mann too should apologise to the people of Haryana, he said. The AAP-led government in Punjab should first get the Satluj-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal built and transfer Punjab's Hindi-speaking areas to Haryana, Khattar said.

On Friday, Khattar said "Chandigarh is and will remain the capital of Haryana and Punjab". Notably, the SYL canal issue has been a bone of contention between Punjab and Haryana for several decades. In the past, Punjab had been demanding a reassessment of its share of the Ravi-Beas rivers water while Haryana had been seeking completion of the SYL canal to get its share of 3.5 million acre feet (MAF) of water.

In 2020, the then Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh had warned that it was an emotive issue and "Punjab will burn" if asked to share water. Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij had on Saturday said the "issue of Chandigarh is there but it is not the only issue". "There are other issues which are connected to it. There is SYL water (issue), (the issue of) Hindi speaking areas. They have not spoken on those issues. Whenever there will be a decision, it will be a single one. There cannot be different decisions," Vij said.

As the Punjab Assembly passed the resolution, Chief Minister Mann accused the Centre of trying to upset the balance in the administration of the Union Territory and other common assets. The resolution, which was moved by Mann, was passed by the House in the absence of the two BJP legislators, who had earlier staged a walkout. The Punjab government's move to bring a resolution in the state assembly came in the wake of the Centre's announcement that the Central Service Rules will apply to the employees of the Union Territory of Chandigarh. Mann and many other parties including Congress and SAD had slammed the Centre's decision, claiming that it goes against the Punjab Reorganisation Act.

PTI