Amitabh Shukla
The political battle being fought between the Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and her detractors in
The function became a virtual trial of strength between the group loyal to the CM and her detractors led by DPCC president Ram Babu Sharma. Top party sources said that while the organisation wanted the MLAs to stay out of the function, the CM wanted the presence of the MLAs to prove that she enjoys a majority support amongst the legislators.
A quick headcount of the MLAs revealed that 22 of the 47 attended the function at the CMs residence. A couple of them came just for the sake of it and left soon after. All the Cabinet ministers were present except Health Minister Yoganand Shastri.
As soon as the detractors of the CM came to know that a function was being held at Dikshit's residence, they became active. Phone calls were made to all of them by the party functionaries directing them not to attend the function. As the political situation is turning critical, the MLAs consulted their fellow legislators to find out who was going and who was not.
One MLA who did not go to the function said that he had to go to the cremation of a party worker. "I called the CM residence and conveyed the reasons why I could not make it," he said. Another MLA said that he was attending a religious function and could not make it. "We do not want to get affected in the crossfire between the government and the organisation," said another who kept away.
Meanwhile, none of the two groups could manage to get an audience with Congress President Sonia Gandhi till late on Friday. While the DPCC president has sought an appointment through AICC general secretary in-charge of
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