Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring on Saturday strongly opposed the union home ministry’s reported move to provide land for construction of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha building in Chandigarh. He also criticized the Punjab government for supporting this move.
Warring responded to the developments by declaring that Chandigarh was only part of Punjab and its capital. There is no point in providing land for Haryana Vidhan Sabha in Punjab’s capital, he said, while adding, this is in contravention to the Punjab Reorganisation Act 1966, as well as the subsequent Rajiv Longowal Accord that reaffirms Punjab’s exclusive right over Chandigarh.
The Shiromani Akali Dal asked Punjab Chief minister Bhagwant Man to immediately withdraw his request to the union government for land to be allotted to the State to establish its Vidhan Sabha or high court.
Ex-minister Dr Daljit Singh Cheema made a statement saying that it was shocking for the chief minister to surrender the rights of Punjab through a senseless request. “Punjab already has its own Vidhan Sabha and high court. The chief minister does not have to give up these institutions. SAD asks the chief minister not to tweet his request to the union home minister to allot land to these two institutions.
The PCC president was shocked at the Punjab government’s reaction to this development.
Referring to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s statement, urging government of India to provide land to Punjab also for building VIdhan Sabha in Chandigarh, PCC president asked, “why does Punjab, at first place, need to construct another Vidhan Sabha building when there is an iconic building already existing and which belongs to Punjab.”
He pointed out that Haryana has already admitted that it doesn’t have any rights over the Vidhan Sabha Building in the Capital Complex. Surprisingly he noted that the Punjab government, which demanded land for a Vidhan Sabha building on the Capital Complex, had knowingly or unknowingly attempted to forfeit its right to the building.
Warring further said that instead of opposing the Union Home Ministry’s move to provide land to Haryana within Chandigarh, the Aam Aadmi Party government had supported the move and sought land for Punjab when there was no need for it.
“This reveals their ignorance of history and legal rights of Punjab over Chandigarh”, he observed, while warning against such careless and irresponsible approach in dealing with such sensitive matters.
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