Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on June 11 announced that his party – Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) would campaign for the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha election if Delhi is granted statehood.
Kejriwal said, “I want to tell BJP that if before 2019 Elections, Delhi is granted statehood, we’ll make sure that each and every vote from Delhi goes in your favour, we’ll campaign for you. If you don’t do so Delhi residents will put up boards saying ‘BJP leave Delhi’.”
The news of AAP supporting BJP came in wake of a huge buzz around AAP and Congress party considering alliance in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab for 2019 polls.
“If he (Kejriwal) was serious about the issue, he should have raised it in the Parliament through his MPs which is the right forum. But, his real intent behind bringing it up on completion of three years and four months is to divert public attention from his misgovernance, incompetence and failures,” Vijender Gupta, BJP legislator and leader of opposition said.
“The AAP government was raking up the issue to hide its failures,” Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken said.
Currently, Delhi has only partial statehood, which readily means that major areas like land, law and order and police still remain under the central government.
On June 11, Delhi CM Kejriwal accused LG Anil Baijal and other central probe agencies of stalling his government’s functioning. While demanding to table the Bill in Parliament to grant Delhi full statehood, he also held a demonstration and staged a sit-in with 3 other ministers: Gopal Rai, Manish Sisodia, Satyendra Jain and spent the night at the Lieutenant Governor’s Raj Niwas in protest. Meanwhile, Satyendra Jain, has launched an indefinite fast at the L-G’s residence.
Omesh Saigal, former Delhi chief secretary, while speaking on Kejriwal’s demand for statehood said “The demand for full statehood for Delhi has been carefully considered by experts for years and it will lead to major revenue losses for the state. Privileges that the citizens here enjoy will also be snatched away.”
