'Dikshit failed to get full statehood for Delhi'

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit failed to get full statehood for Delhi despite being in power for 15 years, BJP's chief ministerial candidate Harsh Vardhan said Tuesday.

He added if voted to power, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will strive for full statehood for Delhi.

"Either Sheila Dikshit was not interested in the statehood for Delhi or the central government ignored her demand for it," Harsh Vardhan said during an interaction with journalists.

He exuded confidence in BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi of being elected as prime minister.

"After Narendra Modi becomes the prime minister, we will go to him and ask for it (full statehood)," Vardhan said at the Indian Women Press Corps.

Statehood for Delhi has become one of the poll issues ahead of the Dec 4 assembly elections.

He said, "It is not that she (Dikshit) is the chief minister because people's lives have improved but she had better luck than us (BJP)."

The four-time legislator from Krishna Nagar in east Delhi also attacked Dikshit over the issue of women's safety.

"Despite being a woman chief minister, she has not been able to ensure women's safety," he said.

"I get desperate to get in touch with my daughter, 22, if she is out and doesn't answer my call after 8 p.m.," he added.

Delhi became a state in 1992 under the system of diarchy where the elected government is given wide powers, except law and order that remain with the central government.