Sahib Singh Verma and Madan Lal Khurana wanted statehood for Delhi - Raghav Chadha

Responding to Home Minister Amit Shah's statement in the Parliament on the Delhi Services Bill — Aam Aadmi Party Senior Leader and Rajya Sabha MP Shri Raghav Chadha said that government is suffering from "Kejriwal phobia". He explained that the GNCTD Bill was brought due to the fear of CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal's popularity.

He said that there is no political ground left for the central government in Delhi. That's why the central government of BJP is continuously hatching a conspiracy to snatch all the powers from the Kejriwal government of Delhi. Actually central government wants to make the Delhi government essentially powerless, so that they can get rid of the pro people government of the AAP. This bill means that the Delhi government will hold no power and there will be no importance of politics in Delhi, Shri Raghav Chadha said.

He further added that the Home Minister's statement inside the House has made their real intention of bringing the Delhi Service Bill very clear. “The Home Minister said that till 2015 everything was going well in Delhi but after 2015 we needed to take all the powers from the Delhi government, that's why we are bringing this Delhi Service Bill.” This means that he has admitted to being scared of Shri Arvind Kejriwal.

Referring to the old committee reports and statements of Pandit Nehru, Dr. Ambedkar and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Shri Raghav Chadha said that they had opined in the 30s and 40s that there should be no government in Delhi. Instead of looking at those statements of Pandit Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Dr. Ambedkar, Amit Shah should look up the statements of central leaders between 1980-1990 and 2000.

Shri Raghav Chadha reminded that BJP veteran Shri LK Advani brought Delhi Statehood Bill, 2003 to make Delhi a full state and said that the Delhi government should get all the powers. Former BJP CMs Late Shri Sahib Singh Verma and Late Shri Madan Lal Khurana used to say that Delhi should have its own government and it should get the status of a full state.

If Amit Shah reads the statements of senior leaders of his own party, then he will not need to refer to the statements of Pandit Nehru. Shri Raghav Chadha further added that LK Advani ji had said that the Bharatiya Janata Party's dream is that Delhi should have its own government and Delhi should get full statehood. Central government fought for this cause from 1977 to 2015. But in 2015, BJP ended their fight after 40 years just because instead of BJP, Shri Arvind Kejriwal's government was elected in Delhi.