CHANDIGARH: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday strongly condemned Punjab's AAP government for passing a resolution seeking the transfer of Chandigarh to the state.
Khattar also asked AAP national convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann to seek an apology from the people of Haryana.
"What the Punjab government has done is condemnable," said Khattar while replying to a question on the resolution passed by the Punjab assembly on Friday.
"What they did is condemnable and it should not have been done," asserted Khattar.
He said Chandigarh is the capital of Haryana and Punjab.
Khattar said Kejriwal being the head of the Aam Aadmi Party should condemn it and apologise to the people of Haryana.
"Similarly, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann too should apologise to the people of Haryana," he said while talking to reporters in Panchkula.
He said the AAP-led government in Punjab should first get the SYL canal built and transfer Punjab's Hindi-speaking areas to Haryana.
On Friday, Khattar had said Chandigarh is and will remain the capital of Haryana and Punjab.
Both the states have several other issues to talk about apart from Chandigarh, a state government statement quoting him had said here.
The Punjab assembly had on Friday passed a resolution seeking immediate transfer of Chandigarh to the state with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann accusing the Centre of trying to upset the balance in the administration of the Union Territory and other common assets.
The resolution, which was moved by Mann, was passed by the House in the absence of the two BJP legislators, who had earlier staged a walkout.
The Punjab government had got the resolution passed by the state assembly in wake of the Centre's announcement that the central service rules will apply to the employees of the Union Territory of Chandigarh.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had slammed the Centre's decision, claiming that it goes against the Punjab Reorganisation Act.