Delhi Minister Parvesh Verma on Thursday accused the AAP-ruled Punjab government of deliberately choking water flow to Delhi and Haryana, calling it an act of “revenge politics.”

Verma alleged that Punjab, stung by political losses in the capital, is now targeting Delhi’s residents by triggering an artificial water crisis.

“The Punjab government has resorted to dirty politics by stopping the water supply to Haryana and Delhi. After losing in Delhi, now they want to create a water crisis in Delhi,” Verma wrote on X.

The minister claimed the Delhi government has been working relentlessly to ensure clean water reaches every home but the Aam Aadmi Party is resorting to dirty politics.

“We are working day and night to provide clean water to every household in Delhi and now the Punjab government wants to take revenge on the people of Delhi in this way. Stop this dirty politics or else you will be expelled from Punjab as well,” he said.

Notably, a full-fledged water war erupted between Punjab and Haryana, with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his Haryana counterpart Nayab Singh Saini indulging in a political slugfest over the release of water to Haryana.

The Punjab Government slashed Haryana’s water share from the Bhakra canal, reducing the supply from 9,500 cusecs to just 4,000, a move which drew sharp criticism from the BJP-ruled state of Haryana.

Mann accused the BJP-led government of playing a dirty game by pressurising Punjab to release excess water to Haryana, while Saini accused Punjab of going back on the implementation of the April 23 agreement worked out by the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) for water sharing among stakeholder states just to “polish” his image in Punjab.

However, the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) has decided to release 8,500 cusec water to Haryana from the Bhakra Dam with immediate effect. The decision was taken at a marathon meeting of the technical panel of the board this evening, presided over by BBMB Chairman Manoj Tripathi.

Although the Punjab Government objected to the decision, stating there was no surplus water to spare for Haryana, it found itself cornered as the three BJP-ruled partner states in the BBMB (Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi) reportedly joined hands to press for the demand. Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh, the other partner state, remained neutral.