Delhi's Statehood dream will have to wait

The central government is not ready to grant full statehood to Delhi with a top Ministry of Home Affairs official saying, nowhere in the world does any capital city have such a status. This would prove to be a bone of contention between Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the NDA government in days to come.

Before the 2013 assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had promised full statehood to Delhi. The party again repeated it during the Lok Sabha polls last year. But its manifesto was silent on the full statehood demand before the 2015 state polls, reports the Economic Times. The issue of full statehood for Delhi was first initiated by the BJP in 1998, when the party was in power both in the state as well as the Centre. However, nothing could be done at that time.
"Full statehood was not granted to Delhi even at the time when the BJP was in power in both the Capital and the Centre. Nowhere in the world does the country's capital city enjoy a full statehood status," a top home ministry official said. The ministry, in a reply in the Parliament last month, had also said that there was no proposal before it to grant full statehood to Delhi.
The Delhi chief minister, who made full statehood to the national capital the primary point of his manifesto, discussed the matter with Home Minister Rajnath Singh soon after he won the Delhi elections with a landslide majority in February this year.
"Yes, Kejriwal had raised this matter with the home minister. But the same is not likely to happen," the top home ministry official said earlier.

The ministry also sees little merit in Kejriwal's earlier demand to 'bifurcate' the capital with the Centre retaining its powers over land, police and public order in NDMC areas with the rest of the state being under direct control of the chief minister. "That will breed total confusion and is ruled out as well," another official aware of the issue said.

(Image: Indiatimes)