NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party on Friday burned copies of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Delhi Special manifesto in all the 70 Assembly constituencies. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Social Welfare minister Rajendra Pal Gautam, Transport minister Kailash Gahlot, and senior leader Pankaj Gupta were among those who led party workers in burning copies of the BJP’s manifesto. Earlier, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal burnt the manifesto at the AAP headquarters.
“We burnt their manifesto to remind people of the deceit of the BJP. They promised in their manifesto that statehood will be given to Delhi, but they have changed their stand and do not support the demand. It is pitiful to see how the current BJP leaders are against this, but earlier leaders were in favour of statehood for Delhi. They were never serious about the issue” said Sisodia.
Earlier, the education minister had a Twitter spat with Delhi BJP spokesperson Harish Khurana over the issue. Statehood is the main issue for AAP in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, and the party hopes it will garner votes for it.
“In the last five years, Modi has not only forgotten about his promise but also acted against the Delhi government, hampering the development work,” said Sisodia. Meanwhile, the election commission has issued a statement saying that it has not issued any directions to remove names or photos of any particular political outfit.
This came in response to AAP leader Raghav Chadha, who wrote a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi a day earlier, arguing that the order by the EC to remove pictures of Kejriwal and the words ‘Aam admi’ from various government hoardings was biased. “The ECI/CEO office has nowhere given any instructions to remove the names, photos of any particular party or political functionary,” Delhi’s election office said in a statement.
Statehood row
Move aimed at highlighting deceit of BJP on statehood, says AAP
BJP leaders are against full statehood for Delhi, says Sisodia