Delhi polls 2015: Statehood issue a sensitive one, says BJP chief Amit Shah

NEW DELHI: Terming as 'sensitive' the matter of granting full statehood to Delhi, BJP President Amit Shah today said it should not be made an election issue and called for a proper debate over it.

Noting that BJP stood united in Delhi behind its chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi and there was no internal rift, he said the party would win in a big way touching the two-third majority mark.

He also termed the issue of former Union minister Jayanathi Natarajan as an "internal matter" of the Congress which should be sorted by it in-house and denied she was in touch with him or his party.

Shah also felt that Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi should campaign more in Delhi just as leaders of other parties were doing and termed it a "wrong interpretation" that Congress was not there in the contest for Delhi polls.

He asserted that Delhi Assembly polls was still a three-cornered contest.

"I feel the matter of granting full statehood status to Delhi should not be made an election issue. There will be harm in making it an emotional poll issue. There is need for a proper debate on it during normal times and not during poll time. You should not bring in such sensitive issues in vote bank politics," Shah told Times Now.

He said his party would come out with a vision document in a day or two on Delhi instead of a manifesto and stressed that the performance of the Central government would be only one of the factors in these polls and not the sole factor.

Shah said BJP contested all elections with seriousness as was done by it in Delhi and since these polls were held in the national capital it was more visible to the media.

Taking a jibe at AAP's Arvind Kejriwal, who fought against VIP culture and made an issue at not being invited to the Republic Day celebrations where US President Barack Obama was the chief guest, the BJP chief said he would surely send him a VIP invite at Bedi's swearing-in as chief minister.

He also wondered why Kejriwal was "worried" of a sting operation on himself as "the politics of lies does not strengthen democracy" and his party has never supported sting operations.