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Journalism of Courage
The SYL (Sutlej-Yamuna Link) canal crisis seems to have drowned the rivalry between Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and his deputy, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, at least for now.
Sources close to the Chief Minister told The Indian Express that the canal being an ‘‘explosive’’ issue, Bhattal had offered cooperation till it blows over.
Bhattal’s detractors, however, say she has given up attempts to grab the CM’s hot seat and would merely watch Amarinder’s discomfiture in handling the ‘‘emotive’’ issue.
The Chief Minister will meet the Prime Minister tomorrow over the Supreme Court order asking the Centre to take over completion of the canal. Singh has been camping in Delhi over the past few days .
Now, the Punjab government is said to be looking at three options. One was to seek review of the Supreme Court order; the second was to ask for re-hearing on certain aspects of the case and the third, demand setting up of a new tribunal to assess the discharge of waters from the Sutlej and Beas.
Meanwhile, officials in the Centre have already started working on selecting an agency that would be entrusted with the construction work.
