Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh yesterday resigned from the Lok Sabha in protest against the “injustice” to the state by the Supreme Court in its verdict on sharing of water from the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal by states including Punjab and Haryana.
All his party legislators also resigned from their assembly seats.
The Supreme Court earlier ruled as unconstitutional the state’s 2004 law intended to deny Haryana its share of the Sutlej-Yamuna water.
Singh sent his resignation to the Lok Sabha speaker and sought a personal meeting next week, party sources said.
The Congress legislators who resigned would meet the assembly speaker in Chandigarh today to personally hand over their resignation papers, a senior leader said.
In his resignation, Singh, who is heading the party’s campaign for assembly elections early next year, said he had decided to quit as MP from Amritsar “as a mark of protest against the deprivation of the people of my state of the much-needed Sutlej river water.”
Describing the SYL judgment by the court as a “major blow to the people of Punjab,” he said in a statement that he had always fought for their legitimate right on this issue and continued to stand by them.
Blaming the ruling Akali Dal for bringing the people to this situation, Singh said Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal and his team had failed to defend Punjab’s stand in the court.
“The Akalis let down the people of Punjab on this critical issue, selling off their interests to Haryana,” he said.
The Supreme Court’s constitution bench of Justices Anil R Dave, Shiva Kirti Singh, Pinaki Chandra Ghose, Adarsh Kumar Goel and Amitava Roy said that the Punjab Termination of Agreement Act, 2004, was not in conformity with the provisions of the Constitution.
At the initiative of the then Congress government headed by Singh, the Punjab assembly had unanimously passed the law terminating all the agreements with Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh and Delhi on the sharing of Sutlej-Yamuna river water.
The act was brought to tide over the January 15, 2002 Supreme Court judgment and decree and subsequent judgment and order of June 4, 2004.
While Punjab Congress leaders reacted angrily, their counterparts in Haryana hailed the verdict. 
“A historic & path breaking verdict by Supreme Court upholds Haryana’s claim on SYL. Victory for people, justice for Haryana. Satyamev Jayate!” Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted.
“It’s a victory of justice and truth. Victory of the Constitution. In the interest of the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji immediately implement the court order on Sutlej-Yamuna canal.”
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar welcomed the Supreme Court decision and said it was a result of persistent efforts made by the present Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state.