Aam Aadmi Party volunteers led by their respective MLAs from Delhi's Assembly constituencies on Friday burned copies of the BJP's 2014 Lok Sabha manifesto in protest against the party's "deception and treachery on full statehood for Delhi".
While attacking the BJP's Delhi unit president Manoj Tiwari, AAP Delhi convenor Gopal Rai said that a "baffled and confused" BJP is changing its stand on Delhi statehood.
"Tiwari is giving lame and laughable excuses in a desperate bid to justify the indefensible u-turn of the BJP.
"He is saying that Delhi cannot be given statehood when there is a Chief Minister like Arvind Kejriwal who sat on a dharna near the Rail Bhawan in January 2014," Rai told the media here.
Rai argued that if full statehood was not possible then why did the party promise it in its 2014 Lok Sabha manifesto.
Tiwari had earlier said that it was the Supreme Court's decision to not allow statehood for Delhi. Rai retorted that it was in fact a case of powers of the elected government and the Delhi LG.
"Though Tiwari is not a Constitutional expert, but as a Member of Parliament he should at least know that Delhi statehood is in the domain of Parliament and not of the courts," Rai said.
Rai added that because of the same fact, the AAP has been stating Delhi needs seven MPs who will raise the issue of statehood and not those who are afraid of speaking for the rights of Delhi.
Giving details of the action of burning the BJP's manifesto, Rai said Friday's action has shown that people of Delhi are no longer ready to bear the injustice being meted out to them since the last seven decades.
He said AAP volunteers will now take the statehood movement to the next level by burning the BJP manifesto in all 272 wards of Delhi on Sunday.
--IANS
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