NEW DELHI: Accusing the BJP of not standing with them, the Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday released videos and statements made by former BJP chief minister of Delhi in the past. The videos show former CMs Sahib Singh Verma and Madanlal Khurana arguing in favour of full statehood for the national capital, saying that multiplicity of authorities hampers development.
Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari has stated that his party will not raise the issue of statehood during the Lok Sabha elections this year. AAP, which has decided to take on the might of the BJP and the Congress and dislodge the BJP from power at the Centre, is highlighting the ‘betrayal’ by BJP leaders.
In a week-long campaign on the issue, AAP has been burning copies of the manifesto of the BJP to drive it home in the minds of voters that the BJP had withdrawn from its earlier position.
The AAP has accused BJP of not being serious on the issue, and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been making speeches asking people to vote for his party in all the seven parliamentary constituencies so that the development of Delhi can be accelerated.
Videos of Union Minister Harshvardhan and Vijay Goel were also presented by AAP Delhi in-charge Gopal Rai.
“The videos show that BJP leaders in the past, not only in the Assembly but also on the streets, have been raising the matter of statehood, but it is very unfortunate that when their party is in power at the Centre, they are not providing statehood to the national capital” said Rai.
Earlier, Kejriwal, while burning copies of BJP’s manifesto, had vowed that if the Centre did not give statehood willingly, the people of Delhi would “snatch” it. On March 17, members of AAP will go across all the 272 municipal wards and burn copies of the BJP manifesto.
Meanwhile, replying to Congress leader PC Chacko’s feedback gathering on AN AAP-Congress alliance, Rai said the Congress was “confused”.
“AAP has already set its agenda of fighting the upcoming elections on the issue of full statehood, and it is late now (for an alliance). After the official statement of the Congress, AAP thought if the Congress is moving towards helping BJP, we need to stop the BJP, and based on that we announced our candidates and launched our campaign,” Rai said.