Dy-CM Dushyant Chautala says Haryana alone leaving claim on Chandigarh will serve no benefit

Haryana leaving claim on common capital Chandigarh will serve no benefit until Punjab too decides to do that, Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala said on Sunday. His remarks came on a day when Haryana is celebrating 54 years of coming into existence as a separate state after it was carved out of undivided Punjab in 1966. Chandigarh is the common capital of Haryana and Punjab and the two states also have a common Punjab and Haryana High Court.

"If we leave (claim on) Chandigarh, then I don't think it will serve any benefit for Haryana. But if both states make Chandigarh a union territory like Delhi and after that form their own separate independent capital and high court bench, then I think it will benefit both the states," Chautala said to a question when he was interacting with reporters in Rohtak on the sidelines of a Haryana Day function.

The JJP leader was asked by a reporter that it has been 54 years since Haryana came into existence but it still does not have an independent capital, its own high court and is yet to get rightful share of Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal waters. In response, Dushyant Chautala also said, "I can tell you one thing that if Punjab leaves (claim) capital (Chandigarh), leaves high court, then Haryana too can think."

Haryana was carved out as a separate state from undivided Punjab on November 1, 1966, under the Punjab Reorganisation Act. Haryana has a long standing dispute over the SYL water sharing issue with Punjab. On the SYL issue, Chautala said that the Supreme Court has ruled in Haryana's favour that the canal should be constructed. 

(Image Credits: PTI)