NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to grant full statehood status to Delhi, an issue that the ruling AAP is expected to raise in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls in an emphatic manner. Reacting to the PM's greetings to the people of Arunachal Pradesh on their Statehood Day on Twitter, CM Kejriwal tweeted, "Sir. Delhi is also waiting for its statehood day. U had promised to the people of Delhi that you wud grant full statehood to Delhi. Kindly do it, sir. People of Delhi have faced injustice for 70 years now."
According to its strategy for the upcoming general elections, the AAP will distribute the BJP's manifestoes for previous elections, including that of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, in which, it said, the saffron party had supported the demand for full statehood to Delhi.
Similarly, Delhi convenor Gopal Rai on Wednesday said since the party has announced its struggle on this long pending issue for the people of Delhi, the BJP leaders are giving strange statements in order to avoid making their stand clear on whether they stand for statehood of Delhi or do they oppose it. "It is extremely strange that even after having been challenged by the Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Mr Arvind Kejriwal on whether the BJP supports or opposes the statehood for Delhi, BJP leaders including union ministers are trying to divert the issue and are trying to deflect attention," Rai said.
He also pointed out that all the frontal organisations of the party will also join in the protest. AAP's social media team has also initiated its campaign by posting the claims of the BJP before the earlier election. "The BJP may try to avoid the issue and live in a make belief world that the people of Delhi will forget this party's deceit and fraud with them, the BJP is living in a fool's paradise in case it thinks that its separate manifesto for Delhi during 2014 Lok Sabha elections, in which it promised statehood for Delhi has been or will be forgotten," said Rai.
The BJP's Delhi unit, however, said the campaign was a "new drama" by the AAP and its chief Arvind Kejriwal. The leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta said that the AAP is flogging a dead horse in its demand for full Statehood for Delhi in its run-up to the General Elections. "People of Delhi have already rejected CM Kejriwal's repeated attempts to misguide them on full Statehood for Delhi,"
said Gupta.