Delhi Politics

Published in B&E 23 July 07
Chucking chholes!

Sheila Dikshit on a slippery ground

If onions had made the BJP cry in 1998 & lose the reins of power in Delhi, then Sheila Dikshit’s chief ministership is appearing to slip over the chholes, spilling out of Ashok Malhotra’s ( the main accused in multi-crore land scam) closet. Ironically, it is the home-grown rebels within the Delhi Pradesh Congress, who are throwing the muck on Dikshit and urging her to resign in the best interest of the party.

The rebel trio, A.K. Walia, Arvinder Singh Lovely & Haroon Yusuf have met the Congress President Sonia Gandhi and apprised her of the impact the Chholegate scandal is having on party’s image in public. Those opposed to the Dikshit camp also include Minister of State for Urban Development Ajay Maken, DPCC President Ram Babu Sharma and former Union Minister Jagdish Tytler. “This time it is a do or die battle between the Dikshit camp and the rebels, something concrete will come out, we will either see the rebels being taught a lesson or Dikshit will be shown the exit gate,” said a senior Congress leader, speaking on condition of anonymity to B&E. That they have been told by Sonia Gandhi to hold their horses and concentrate on attacking the BJP under whose rule the Jhuggi scam had begun in 2002.

With Delhi Assembly elections just a few months away and the BJP on the upswing after winning the recently held civic polls in Delhi, the power brokers within the Delhi Congress are worried about the prospect of losing power. Probably, they are justified too. Shilea Dikshit has enjoyed power for almost 10 years now. She is also aware that her dwindling chances of returning to power. This is the reason why she is little less concerned about political impact of her actions than she would have been five back. It is high time that the Congress took some concrete steps to avoid facing an inevitable defeat in Delhi assembly elections and embarrassing Sonia in the process.