SC rules against Punjab in SYL issue, Capt. Amarinder Singh, Congress MLAs resign

Captain Amarinder Singh, Member of Parliament (MP) from Amritsar, today resigned from the Lok Sabha, soon after the Supreme Court (SC) delivered its verdict over the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue. Singh, who is the president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) and the party’s chief ministerial candidate in the upcoming elections in Punjab, has also reportedly received resignations from all Congress Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) from the state.

The SC ruled against Punjab as it declared the Punjab Termination Agreement Act, 2004 – which scrapped water-sharing agreements with neighbouring states – to be unconstitutional. As a result, it is possible that the SYL canal project could be taken over the Central government which will continue work for its completion.

Singh tweeted out his resignation letter, in which he stated that his resignation was “a mark of protest against the deprivation of the people of my state of the much-needed Sutlej river water”. He also accused the Central and state governments of failing to help the people of Punjab from their “sorry plight into which they have been plunged by the apex court judgement”.

Also, Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal reacted to Singh’s resignation, calling it “drama”.

Meanwhile, Haryana (a beneficiary of the water-sharing project) chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar welcomed the SC decision.

The SYL canal project was first conceived in 1966 for the sharing of Ravi and Beas river waters after the state of Haryana was carved out of Punjab.