As she prepares to lead the Congress in Delhi Assembly polls for the second time, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has said the Centre should hand over control of land and local policing to the city government to end its "handicap" but feels full statehood wouldn't be feasible.

Dikshit says that full statehood, like the one enjoyed by other states, would not be feasible for Delhi as the union government also is present here and the ramifications are national.

"My experience of the past 10 years has shown that Delhi can't have full statehood status, the kind of statehood, that is being demanded by the BJP," she told PTI in an interview.

The 73-year-old Congress leader, who has been the Chief Minister for two consecutive terms since 1998, however, said the Delhi government should have land and law and order, in terms of local policing and traffic management, under its command to help it deliver better.

"It is a handicap," she said while talking about the city government having no say in matters related to land and policing in Delhi.

"Delhi government should at least have representation in Delhi Development Authority and MCD (which are under the command of the Central government)," Dikshit said, adding that it would enable the city government to decide on matters related to housing in the capital.

Explaining why full statehood is not feasible for Delhi, she said aspects like security of assets having national dimensions have to be handled by the Central government which also exists in the capital.

During the 2003 assembly polls, statehood had been a major political issue, with both the BJP and Congress promising the same in their election manifesto.

Taking a dig at BJP for repeatedly raking up the full statehood demand, Dikshit said the previous government headed by the saffron party had brought a bill but nothing happened.

On terrorism which BJP is set to rake up during campaigning for the November 29 Delhi assembly polls, the Chief Minister said the issue of "national concern" should not become a matter of political blame-game.

"Terrorism is a national issue, it is a national concern. Terrorism should be above politics," she said.

Decrying attempts to politicise terrorism, she said the problem does not exist only in Congress-ruled states but in BJP-ruled states too and referred to Karnataka, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh in this regard.

"If there is blame game, there will be no solution to the problem," Dikshit underlined.

"There are forces within the country and perhaps outside the country who want to destabilise the country," she noted and added "the whole nation has to fight terrorism unitedly."

On Jamia Nagar encounter which has got mired in a controversy as questions have been raised over its
authenticity, the Chief Minister said "we will explain" it to the people.

Some sections have voiced doubts over the September 19 encounter in Jamia Nagar in which a Delhi Police inspector and two suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorists were killed.