Unlike Punjab, the contentious matter of the SYL canal has failed to bring the Haryana opposition parties together. Instead, all major political parties, including the ruling Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), the Congress, the BJP and the Haryana Vikas Party (HVP) are busy blaming each other over their stands on the issue.Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala’s call to unite all parties has met with a lukewarm response. The parties have preferred to approach the Central government on their own.Earlier, the Assembly had twice passed a unanimous resolution to pressure the Centre to get the canal completed according to the Supreme Court order. When the House passed the resolution last month, Congress, the main opposition, boycotted the proceedings.After an all-party meeting following the Supreme Court decision in favour of Haryana in early 2002, the Congress took a separate delegation to then PM Atal Behari Vajpayee; this time the Congress MPs met PM Manmohan Singh on their own. ‘‘How can we side with a man (Chautala) who we know is hobnobbing with Parkash Singh Badal for his personal gains?’’ Capt Ajay Singh, Leader of the Opposition said. In turn, Chautala yesterday demanded the resignation of Union Ministers from Haryana Kumari Selja and Rao Inderjeet Singh as the Congress is in power in Punjab and at the Centre.The BJP’s stand mimics the Congress’. ‘‘There is no question of joining hands with Chautala on any issue,’’ says Jaiveer Godara, state chief of the BJP’s youth wing. ‘‘He had been delaying the completion of the canal for his interests for the past many years.’’
