NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday demanded statehood for both the national Capital and Puducherry, saying people in these two union territories should not be discriminated against. CM Kejriwal, who was en route to Puducherry to express solidarity with Chief Minister V Narayanaswamy -locked in a turf war with Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi- alleged that the situation in the two union territories was the same.
Narayanasamy, his cabinet colleagues and MLAs of both Congress and DMK have been staging a dharna against Bedi in front of the Raj Nivas in Puducherry since February 13 in protest against the her "negative stand" towards various proposals of the territorial government. "The LG of Puducherry is creating a lot of obstacles in the development work and creating problems for the elected government...we are facing exactly similar problems in Delhi," CM Kejriwal, the AAP chief said.
"I have come to express solidarity with Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanaswamy. We will demand that both Delhi and Puducherry be made full (fledged) states. There is no reason why people of these states should be discriminated against," he said.