Amitabh Shukla
In the ongoing demolition drive in the Capital, chief minister Sheila Dikshit has emerged as a new heroine of the middle class with a section of the RWAs even terming her as a “demolition woman”.
The new political image makeover for Dikshit comes in the eight year of her tenure of Dikshit. CM supporters say that this image would help her gain the status of an elder woman who is on the right side of the law. None of the dozen odd MLAs loyal to Dikshit, made any protest on the issue and praised her publicly. In fact, one of her MLAs even brought a delegation of builders saying that they were ready to “reform themselves” from now on.
Her detractors in the party, however, say that that she has no more political stake left in the city. “She cannot hope to become the chief minister for a third time in a row and therefore has taken a tough stand on the demolitions,” said a MLA of the rival camp in the party. He said there are a number of options for the government in view of the High Court order but none have been exercised so far.
The detractors within the party now compare her to Jagmohan, the former Union Urban Development Minister, who took a tough stand on any violations of the Master Plan and the Building bye laws. “Jagmohan has many admirers in the middle class but he also ensured the demise of the BJP in
Interestingly, Dikshit did not oppose the demolitions at any stage saying that illegalities have to be removed. She only issued instructions to the MCD saying that only the unoccupied buildings be targeted in the demolition drive. In the floor of the Delhi Assembly, the CM said that MCD has been created under an Act of the Parliament and the government cannot issue instructions to the civic body. The NCT of Delhi Act, which paved the way for statehood, however, says that the local bodies would be under the overall control of the government. (2005)
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