Kejriwal, like his counterpart West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, is best at confrontational politics. There has been a constant tussle between him and the Centre since the AAP government came to power in 2015. Earlier in his first term, he went on dharna and even held cabinet meetings near Rail Bhavan on the pavement.

Last week Kejriwal declared in the Assembly “From 1st March I will begin a hunger strike. I am going to fast till we get statehood. I am ready to face death." The demand was one of the Aam Admi Party’s promises in the run-up to the 2015 Assembly polls. “Ab aar ya paar ki ladai hai (this is going to be a decisive battle),” the Chief Minister said, announcing his decision. Prior to that Kejriwal had declared in public meetings that if the AAP got seven out of seven Delhi Lok Sabha seats, his party would ensure that the Delhi got the statehood within two years. Kejriwal is also prodding the people of Delhi to come to the streets to participate in the agitation for statehood.

The immediate provocation for this decision is the Supreme Court verdict last week, which held that the Centre and not the Delhi government had the power to order investigations against corrupt officers in the capital. It also left the decision to a higher bench as to who should control the officers. Prior to that, In July, a five-judge Constitution bench ruled that Delhi cannot be accorded the status of a state but said the Lieutenant-Governor has no "independent decision-making power" and must act on the "aid and advice" of the elected government. Kejriwal is not happy with these judicial pronouncements.

Kejriwal is building up this issue, as part of his campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and divert attention from his failures. He claimed statehood would provide two lakh jobs in the Delhi government, houses for all citizens of the state, regularization of contractual government employees and new schools and universities.

Though Delhi is going for polls in 2020, Kejriwal’s compulsion is to raise the issue now because of the upcoming parliamentary polls. AAP has performed well on health, education, water, electricity and unauthorised colonies’ fronts and is quite sure of the support of the lower middle class and poorer sections, but Kejriwal is not sure about prospects in the Lok Sabha polls. What better way than to sit in dharna on behalf of the people of people. This way he can impress on the people that he is the only one who is taking care of their interests.

Secondly, Kejriwal may need a face saving formula at some point of time later if the fast continues. He knows he can expect the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu with whom he is on excellent terms to come to Delhi and persuade him to end the indefinite fast. Are they not together in the proposed mahagathbandhan? He has come much closer to them and this is part of taking on the Centre and they are equally interested in embarrassing the Modi government.

Kejriwal is not the only one fighting the Centre as Puducherry Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy too has been locked in a turf war with Lt Governor Kiran Bedi over the latter’s negative attitude towards various proposals of his government. He had been sitting in dharna since February 13 outside the Raj Bhavan demanding that the Lt Governor approve his cabinet’s proposals.

Kejriwal should realise that confrontational politics would not get him anywhere. The country is tense after the Pulwama terror attack and he has chosen this time to press for his demands too. What happens if a limited war with Pakistan starts before that? What is important is governance and this is where he is weak though he puts the blame on the Centre for every one of his failures. Pressing for Delhi statehood is something, which cannot happen in a day, and he should realize the difficulties on the road to it. As chief minister, his mantra should be governance first. (IPA Service)