Granted statehood, Delhi will be a model city, says Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said if Delhi is granted full statehood, he will turn it into a model city and an example for the world with everyone in the national capital having their own flat.

The Aam Aadmi Party chief alleged that the people of Delhi are insulted time and again by the central government which has given a “half status” to the national capital. He appealed to them to unite and join the movement towards full statehood.

“At the time of Sheila ji’s government (former chief minister Sheila Dikshit) the power tariff used to increase every year for 15 years but we reduced it to half,” he said, addressing a rally in Kondli in East Delhi.

Mr Kejriwal claimed that if the city-state gets full statehood, he would “build a model city in which everyone would have their own flat and the national capital would be an example for the whole world”.

“The real Delhi resides beyond the ring road, the real Delhi is in small lanes where there were no proper roads earlier,” he said.

At another rally in R.K. Puram, Mr Kejriwal claimed that no party is going to get absolute majority this time and urged people to vote for full statehood this time and not for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Accusing the Centre of creating “hurdles” for Delhi’s development, the AAP leader alleged that he faced several obstructions at various stages to get clearances from the central government.

Raising the slogan of Poorna Rajya Banao Jhadu ka Button Dabao, the party is busy convincing people to vote for AAP to get full statehood for Delhi.

AAP names 15 star campaigners

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has come up with 15 names to be the party’s star campaigners in Delhi, senior party leader Gopal Rai said.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, senior party leaders Satyendra Jain and Sanjay Singh, and Mr Rai himself are among those chosen by the party.

The other names on the list include Bhagwant Mann, Sushil Gupta, N.D.Gupta, Imran Hussain, Kailash Gahlot, Saurabh Bhardwaj, Rajendra Pal Gautam, Rakhi Birla, Jarnal Singh and Shahnaz Hindustani.