BJP MLAs join AAP full- statehood call
● BJP’s Leader of the Opposition Vijender Gupta said his party also backed the demand for full statehood for the national capital, but noted that the AAP government was weakening the claim by politicising the issue
City legislators, cutting across party lines, on Tuesday pushed for full statehood for the national capital, with BJP MLAs also voicing the demand for extending the authority of the state government. The AAP legislators, however, also launched a direct tirade against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Central government for trying to scuttle the Delhi’s AAP government.
Speaking on the first day of two- day emergency Delhi Assembly session, BJP’s Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta said his party also backed the demand for the full statehood for the national capital, but noted that the AAP government was weakening the claim by politicising the issue. “We too have been saying that Delhi should get full statehood, we still are saying this. But what are the reasons for this huge gap and vacuum ( between the Centre and state)? In my opinion, it is the government’s approach.”
“You ( AAP government) are not pitching for full statehood, but diluting it for political reasons,” the BJP legislator from Rohini asserted, adding that the government should have cited the causes that hindered the process of regularisation of unauthorised colonies. “Had you been serious, the matter could have been preceded further.”
AAP’s Karawal Nagar MLA Kapil Mishra said the Centre was trying to “tie” the hands and feet of the Arvind Kejriwal government and that curtailing the power of anti- corruption branch ( ACB) would be deemed as limiting the rights of the people.
Emphasising on the need for full statehood for Delhi, Mr Mishra said if the Delhi government was paying the salary of many government officials over whom the state government has no jurisdiction then the government should also have the authority to post or transfer them.
Attacking the BJP over the May 21 notification curtailing the power of the ACB, the AAP MLAs said: “When you contested the passing of Jan Lokpal Bill, the people reduced to 3 from 32. Now you ( the BJP) are repeating the same mistake ( of curbing the ACB’s power).”
AAP Palam legislator Bhawna Gaur said the Centre had weakened the federal structure of the country and had eroded the power of states. She said that the day wouldn’t be far when the Centre would be issuing decrees on all state matters.
Stressing the need for declaring “void” the May 21 MHA notification, Wazirpur MLA Rajesh Gupta sad the notification was not only an “insult” to the AAP government, but also for the Assembly.
AAP legislator Jarnail Singh, who represents the Rajouri Garden constituency, said that if insurgency-hit states like the Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab could have the police under the jurisdiction of the state government, why couldn’t the Delhi police be put under the city government.