New Delhi
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday announced an indefinite fast from March 1 to demand full statehood for Delhi which he dubbed as the “only remedy” to the ongoing power clashes between the Narendra Modi government and the Delhi government.

Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party called it a political stunt in view of the Lok Sabha elections. Addressing MLAs in the Delhi Assembly, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo suggested PM Modi, whom he accused of stunting the AAP government’s work and crucial projects during the last four years, to focus only on dealing with Pakistan while claiming that till now the PM has been “incompetent” in doing so.

Participating in a discussion on granting full statehood to Delhi, on which the Assembly passed a resolution later, Kejriwal claimed the Centre’s control over services has prevented his government from providing at least two lakh jobs.

To back his party’s statehood case, Kejriwal ranted about the challenges faced by the Delhi government due to control of police, law and order and land and municipal corporations resting with the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Modi-led Centre.

Kejriwal criticised both the BJP and Congress saying they promised statehood for Delhi but after coming to power they backtracked. “This is like backstabbing people of Delhi,” the AAP national convener said. The resolution demanded the Centre declare Delhi a full-fledged state barring the areas governed by the NDMC Act which it may retain.