Gill vs Selja in Rajya Sabha

Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 11

With Punjab elections slated next year, state’s vexed water-sharing dispute with Haryana rocked the Rajya Sabha today. The matter was raised by Congress MP MS Gill during zero hour but it soon turned into free-for-all with various members, including Kumari Selja, Ambika Soni and Harsimrat Kaur Badal, joining in.

Chair of the House Hamid Ansari requested the members to take their seats and was finally forced to adjourn the proceedings for 10 minutes. When question hour began and the shouting continued, Ansari said members who wished to debate the issue could do so outside the House.

Initiating the topic, Gill said the Partition of India was in fact the partition of Punjab and demanded an amicable resolution to the dispute. He said the issue could not be settled by courts, but only through dialogue between the stakeholders.

Congress MP from Haryana Kumari Selja was on her feet alleging the Shiromani Akali Dal had destroyed Punjab and was now trying to rally support keeping elections in mind.

Selja and some of her party colleagues trooped into the well of the House, demanding implementation of the Supreme Court order on the SYL canal issue.

A shouting match ensued after Ambika Soni of the Congress stood up, prompting SAD’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal to join in. Punjab’s decision to denotify 5376 acre land acquired to construct the Punjab part of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal is being seen as political gimmick.

Haryana has already completed the construction of the canal on its land while Punjab backtracked and blocked the project in 2004 by passing the Punjab Termination of Agreement Act 2004. Under the Act, the earlier agreements were declared null and void. Haryana then moved the Supreme Court in 2004.