'Badal putting on act for media: Ravi Inder'

chandigarh:former speaker and dissident akali leader ravi inder singh has alleged that punjab chief minister parkash singh badal has entered into a secret pact with the centre and haryana to barter the state's river waters in return for transfer of chandigarh to punjab. talking to the reporters at his residence here, on thursday, ravi inder singh said that punjab's claim over the river waters, punjabi speaking areas and chandigarh were mutually exclusive and not negotiable.other panthic morcha leaders including member parliament prem singh chandumajra joined him in lambasting badal and the centre. referring to badal's assertion that he won't compromise on river waters and not a drop would be surrendered, ravi inder singh said he had put on an act for the press and innocent punjabis. unfolding the strategy of the morcha, chandumjra said the morcha would work in cooperation with regional parties including those in the nda to ensure that regional interests were protected. he said that the centre had deleted the subject of river waters and control of headworks from the state list and included it in the concurrent list, with a simple amendment, already passed by the lok sabha. ''what the congress had failed to achieve in 50 years, the bjp had accomplished with badal's help,'' said chandumajra. echoing the same sentiments, ravi inder singh said that the national parties had failed to protect regional interests. and this had not only eroded the federal set up and undermined the internationally acknowledged principle of riparian states to determine the rights of river waters, added chandumajra. former speaker alleged that the congress and treasury benches had acted in tandem to stall any discussion on the river waters in the state assembly. the government feared that it would be exposed as it had consciously refrained from opposing the amendment to the inter-state water dispute act, in the lok sabha.