BJP promises statehood, changes in MPD for sealing relief

New Delhi, Nov 18 (UNI) Attacking the Congress for doing nothing to get statehood status for Delhi during its ten-year regime, the BJP today said it would pursue the issue to rid the national capital of severe difficulties owing to multiplicity of authorities.

Releasing the party manifesto, BJP's chief ministerial candidate for Delhi, Prof V K Malhotra said the Shiela Dikshit government had failed to do anything on this front and also kept mum on the issue in its manifesto released yesterday.

''The same Sheila Dikshit who had taken out a huge march during the NDA regime at the Centre, is now evasive on the issue and is constantly justifying her failure,'' he said at press conference.

Dubbing the Congress manifesto as ''old wine in new bottle'', Prof Malhotra said the party has not touched upon a single new issue that had not been mentioned in its 1993, 1998 and 2003 elections manifestoes.

In its vision statement, the party said getting statehood was its foremost priority as it would bring the police and the Delhi Development Authority under the state government. This would help in tackling the grim law and order situation in the capital, he said.

Taking on the Delhi government for not doing enough to improve the law and order situation, Prof Malhotra said Delhi has today become the crime capital of the country.''Not a day passes when a murder, a rape or a robbery is not reported from different parts of the city. While repeated incidence of rape has created a fear psychosis among women, senior citizens are also equally scared,'' he said.

Blaming the government for the delay in hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, he said the BJP will ensure its early implementation.

He also criticised the Sheila Dikshit government for dragging its feet on giving ownership rights to residents of resettlement colonies, and promised that his party will give them the rights if voted to power.

On the authorised colonies issue, Mr Malhotra termed the grant of provisional regularisation certificates to the residents as a farcial exercise, and said not a single colony has been regularised during the ten years of Congress rule.

Asserting that the BJP would regularise all authorised colonies, he said his government will prepare the layout plan and create the necessary document for each colony.

On the issue of sealing and demolition, he said the BJP would remove all anomalies of the 2020 Master Plan and amend it appropriately to remove problems faced by Delhiites.

Among the BJP leaders present at the press meet were Arun Jailtey, Harshvardhan, OP Kohli, Vijay Goel, Jagdish Mukhi, Arti Mehra, Vijendra Gupta and former Lt Governor Vijay Kapoor.

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