CHANDIGARH, Nov 16:
Former SAD leader Pargat Singh, Navjot Kaur Sidhu, wife of former BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu, and two other legislators resigned from Punjab Assembly today protesting the Badal government’s “failure” to protect the state’s rights over river waters.
The hockey player-turned-politician said he had resigned “as the Badals have failed miserably to protect Punjab’s rights over river waters”, adding though Kaur is indisposed, she has sent her resignation “directly” to Assembly Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal.
Besides Pargat Singh (Jalandhar Cantonment) and Navjot Kaur Sidhu (Amritsar East), Simarjit Singh Bains (Atam Nagar) and his brother Balwinder Singh Bains (Ludhiana South) too resigned.
Pargat had resigned from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), in the last monsoon session, while Kaur had left BJP in October.
During the debate on the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Sutlej-Yamuna-Link (SYL) canal issue in the special session of Punjab Assembly, the Bains brothers went into the well of the Assembly and threw their “resignation letters”.
Pargat and the Bains brothers are members of ‘Awaaz-e-Punjab’, an apolitical front, floated by Sidhu.
Already 42 Congress MLAs had submitted their resignation after the apex court’s ruling favouring Haryana on the contentious SYL canal issue. The party’s Amritsar MP and Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh too had resigned from his Lok Sabha seat.
A special session of the Assembly was held today following the Supreme Court’s verdict last week holding as “unconstitutional” the 2004 law passed by the Punjab government to terminate the SYL canal water sharing agreement with neighbouring states.
Assembly polls are slated in Punjab early next year. (PTI)
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