AAP slams Tiwari over statehood remark

The Aam Aadmi Party on Monday slammed newlyappointed Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari for his comment opposing full statehood to Delhi and asked the BJP central leadership to clear its stand. On December 3, Mr Tiwari said Delhi should not be given full statehood and that conceding the demand could lead to problems for the country’s federal structure.

The view of the actorturned-politician, who recently took over as the Delhi BJP chief, amounted to a U-turn on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s long-standing demand for full statehood for Delhi.

AAP Delhi convenor Dilip Pandey said: “The BJP high command should clarify if it condones the statement (of Mr Tiwari)... Do they agree to this biggest political U-turn?”

Mr Pandey told the media here that a number of BJP stalwarts had in the past advocated full statehood for Delhi, and said the BJP had been demanding it since the beginning of Delhi politics.

“From Atal Behari Vajpayee to Kalka Das, Sahib Singh Verma, Madan Lal Khurana, L.K. Advani... all of them demanded full statehood

Manoj Tiwari visits Valmiki Basti, has lunch with dalit family

for Delhi... were they all lying?” Mr Pandey asked.

The AAP leader said that instead of abandoning the matter altogether, the BJP should participate in a debate on the issue.

“There is already a Delhi statehood draft bill in the public domain. If the BJP has any differences over the issue, we are ready for a debate. But don’t make the people of Delhi suffer,” Mr Pandey said.

He said it is important for Delhi to get the status of a full state because of its complex administrative structure. “If Delhi gets full statehood, only then can there be ease of governance. Today, multiplicity of agencies leads to stalling of issues of public importance,” he said.

Meanwhile, a day after leading a massive awareness campaign about use and benefit of e-banking or e-wallet, Mr Tiwari spent around an hour with dalit families in the national capital. He also had lunch with a dalit family on Monday.

A senior Delhi BJP leader said that after being appointed as state president, Mr Tiwari was getting invitations all the sections of society from across the city but he accepted the invitation of a Valmiki family.

“Without any prior information to the family, Mr Tiwari visited the house of Vishal Thawaria and had lunch with them. The women members of the family admired the efforts being made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for creating new economic system and they handed over their family saving Gullak (piggy bank) to Mr Tiwari for the Prime Minister Relief fund,” he added.

Party leaders said that the sudden visit of Mr Tiwari to the Valmiki Basti was a pleasant surprise for the residents.