India News | Akali Dal Accuses Mann of Trying to Defame Parkash Singh Badal in PU Matter

Chandigarh, Jun 5 (PTI) Akali Dal Monday accused Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann of trying to defame former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal over the Panjab University issue claiming the dead leader once sought central university status for the state varsity.

The opposition party's reaction came hours after Mann accused Badal of writing a letter in 2008 to Manmohan Singh, the then prime minister, seeking a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for grant of central status to Panjab University.

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Mann on Monday also rejected a proposal of affiliation of Haryana colleges with PU, saying the Chandigarh-based university belongs to Punjab and will remain so.

Shiromani Akali Dal leader Daljit Singh Cheema asked Mann not to weaken Punjab's case vis-a-vis PU by indulging in a defamation campaign against Badal and advised him instead to expose Haryana for its "trying to capture the varsity through the back door."

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"It is shocking that Mann has eroded the dignity of the high office he holds by indulging in a selective leak from a letter Parkash Singh Badal wrote to the Centre in 2008," Cheema said.

Cheema said the 2008 letter was written following a demand from teachers and students of Panjab University who were agitating for an increase in the retirement age as well as increase in emolument for research scholars.

He said that "the erstwhile Punjab government had expressed it had no objection to the varsity being accorded central University status" provided there is no change in university's name, nor will there be any tinkering with its statutory bodies – the senate and syndicate-- or affiliation of Punjab colleges with the institution.

"Mann chose to ignore all these points while reading out the letter selectively to the media," said Cheema.

He also said the chief minister failed to point out that Badal had clearly stated in the letter that the NOC should not deter the state from getting another central university and a "world university."

It was also condemnable that the chief minister did not disclose that the 2008 letter was withdrawn five days after it was written, he said. "Mann should have been upfront about this fact also."

The Akali Dal leader said the 2008 letter had nothing to do with the case at hand and said "Punjabis are perturbed as to why Mann is attending repeated meetings called by the Punjab Governor to discuss re-affiliating colleges in Haryana with Panjab University."

He urged the chief minister to understand the "real conspiracy" by the Haryana government to make a comeback into Panjab University by affiliating its colleges with the institution.

"This will allow Haryana to have representation in the Senate and Syndicate, which are the governing bodies of the varsity. All this is also designed to dilute Punjab's right over Chandigarh which must be stoutly defended," he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)