New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party's promise of full statehood to Delhi is not likely to be fulfilled in near future. The right to grant full statehood solely lies in the hands of central government and Prime Minister Modi and his government does not seem to be in any mood of granting that to Delhi.
After decapitating BJP and Congress in the assembly elections, Kejriwal and his lieutenant Sisodia went to see Prime Minsiter, Home Minister and Urban Development Minster with a request for full cooperation in development of the national capital. The issue of full statehood was also raised and they were promised of centre's cooperation but there is a very slim chance that centre and state will be on the same wavelength on every issue.
BJP did not even mention full statehood of Delhi in its manifesto and its chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi dodged the question every time she was asked for an explanation. If the BJP would've been serious, it could have made it an electoral issue in the assembly elections.
Modi recently took a jibe at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's promise of cheaper electricity without naming him.
“In every election, they promise that they will provide free electricity. And which political parties make such promises? Those (states) which do not have electricity (generation) of their own,” he said.
Delhi has its own assembly, its own government but two major departments, law & order and land (DDA) lie with the central government. If these two are brought under state government, the Union Home Ministry and Urban Development ministry will become irrelevant in Delhi. That is why central governments avoid giving more powers to Delhi government.
However, this was not the case all the time. BJP leader Madan Lal Khurana was instrumental in the movement for elections to Delhi assembly that was finally granted in 1993. BJP led central government even presented legislation in Parliament on August 18, 2003 for full statehood. According to the legislation, Union government kept NDMC and VIP security under it and everything else was brought under state government. Unfortunately, the legislation was never passed.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after his meeting with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, has promised to look into the matter but any breakthrough is highly unlikely given the fact that neither AAP nor BJP would like each other to walk away with the credit.
A full-blown political conflict between the central and the state governments over full statehood issue can't be completely ruled out. What is certain is that it's not going to be an easy task for Kejriwal-led govt despite the fact that AAP has won an astonishing 67 out of 70 Assembly seats.
