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AICC, DPCC fight about Delhi's statehood

Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party is united about according full statehood to Delhi, the Congress stands divided over the issue with the state unit and the central leaders differing on it.

Granting full statehood to Delhi has become the major plank of BJP candidates, contesting in all the seven Lok Sabha seats in the capital. In fact, this is among the BJP's main promises to the Delhi electorate.

The seven BJP nominees, Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma and the central leadership are strongly in support of full statehood. This would bring under the Delhi government the land, police and all other important departments, which are at present with the Centre.

All India Congress Committee general secretaries R K Dhawan and Meera Kumar, both candidates from Delhi, are strong subscribers of the demand. They feel that every state should have the law and order agency and the land under it for better administration.

However, the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee argues that granting full statehood would only add to Delhi's financial problems and, therefore, not at all feasible.

DPCC president Prem Singh's view is the demand means that the Centre would waive off various special grants which Delhi is now entitled to.

''It was the Congress which was first to demand an assembly for Delhi, but we never raised any demand for a full statehood keeping the financial aspect in mind,'' Prem Singh said.

Speaking about Dhawan's stand he said, ''It is his (Dhawan's) personal view. It has nothing to do with the official stand. He is free to express his personal views on the matter."

Dhawan, for his part, claimed granting full statehood was very much on the Congress agenda.

''It's not my personal view," Dhawan said, "I am a Congress Working Committee member. Let the matter come up before it. He (Prem Singh) will get a befitting reply.''

Dhawan is ambly supported by Kumar. ''Delhi," she said, "with all its problems and population, has to be looked at from a different perspective. I am in favour of full statehood because all the previous experiments, first with Delhi as a Union territory and then with special status, have failed.''

The other five Congress candidates, most of them local partymen, though very much supporting Dhawan's view, are still to spell out their stand in public.

The chief minister, BJP spokesperson and south Delhi candidate Sushma Swaraj, party vice-presidents Madan Lal Khurana and K L Sharma, and almost all senior party leaders have said full statehood is necessary for better law and order situation.

Besides, it would help in settling the numerous land-related problems which the Capital is facing now. The state government, they said, has not been able to decide on the unauthorised colonies there because the Delhi Development Authority, responsible for all land allocations, was with the Centre.

UNI

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