NEW DELHI: Raising the issue of full statehood to Delhi again, Aam Aadmi Party today demanded the BJP to come clean on the matter.
Referring to a purported statement by Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari on the issue, which he has already denied, AAP's Delhi unit convenor Dilip Pandey said "refusing statehood" will be the "biggest" political U-turn of the party.
Arvind Kejriwal too had attacked Tiwari over his purported statement yesterday. In response, the Delhi BJP chief said the Chief Minister is in a "hurry" to lodge opposition and was latching on to a "false report".
Pandey said full statehood for Delhi is necessary because of the "complicated administrative structure" of the national capital.
He added that whenever people face problems like dengue, air pollution, water-logging, law and order, they approach MLAs and elected representative, but they are helpless.
"BJP's stalwarts like Madanlal Khurana, Sahib Singh Varma, Atal Behari Vajpayee, L K Advani, Harsh Vardhan, have favoured statehood for Delhi for more than two decades.
"When Sheila Dixit was chief minister she also emphaised on full statehood. AAP government is ready for talks. We are open for debate. The current BJP leadership should not allow Delhi to suffer due to its political U-turn," he added.