The AAP will fight the Lok Sabha polls on the issue of full statehood and it is "late now" for talks on an alliance in Delhi, a senior party leader said Thursday, a day after the Congress sought views from its workers on a possible tie-up with the ruling party here.
The general election is going to start on April 11 and will continue till May 19. Polling on seven seats in Delhi will be held on May 12. The BJP had won all the parliamentary seats in the national capital in 2014.
Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Gopal Rai questioned the official stand of the BJP on the issue, saying the saffron party's leaders are giving conflicting statements on the matter as they are "rattled by the AAP's movement towards attaining full statehood" for Delhi.
He made the remark referring to different media reports.
Rai quoted from a media report in which Union Minister Vijay Goel has reportedly said the BJP is in favour of full statehood but it is not possible if the city has a chief minister like Arvind Kejriwal.
He also referred to another media report in which Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari allegedly said that full statehood would not be part of BJP's manifesto.
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"What is BJP's official stand on granting full statehood to Delhi. We want an answer on that. On one hand, Tiwari says it will not be granted to Delhi while Goel says full statehood would not be given as long as Kejriwal is the chief minister," Rai said.
The AAP has declared its candidates for six of the seven seats in Delhi.
On an alliance with the Congress in Delhi, Rai said "There is a very big challenge in front of the country and it is late now (for an alliance). After the official statement of the Congress, AAP thought if Congress is moving towards helping BJP, we need to stop the BJP and based on that we announced our candidates and launched our campaign following that."