'Power politics' divides Delhi Congress

Amitabh Shukla

New Delhi, August 31

The internal division in the Congress has come to the forefront as a result of the Power imbroglio in the city in the last few weeks. The detractors of chief minister Sheila Dikshit – lying low for a while – have come out in the open saying that she failed to read the mood of the people and messed up the whole situation by increasing the tariff.

In the meeting of the Coordination panel of the party, comprising CWC members, former DPCC presidents and the party MPs, almost everyone targeted Dikshit for “mishandling the situation, providing government subsidy and damaging the image of the party”. New Delhi MP Ajay Maken, once a close associate of Dikshit and now the chief bete noire, went ahead and demanded her resignation on the issue. This is perhaps for the first time that her resignation has been demanded on a party platform.

As the political situation in Delhi once again becomes fluid, the next meeting of the committee has been convened on Friday. Sources in the party said that the DPCC has asked for the presence of AICC general secretary in-charge of Delhi, Ashok Gehlot in the meeting. If Gehlot attends the meeting, Dikshit would have to attend it. She failed to turn up in Tuesday’s meeting though two representatives from her government – Finance and UD Minister A.K. Walia and Power Minister Haroon Yusuf attended it. They kept on listening to the barbs thrown at her government.

DPCC president Ram Babu Sharma has asked the government (read Dikshit) to bring along the terms of agreement with the discoms, the decisions taken in the Cabinet and the account books of the discoms. Those who attended the meeting include R.K. Dhawan, R.K. Anand, Parvez Hashmi, MPs – Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler, Maken, Krishna Teerath, former DPCC presidents Subhash Chopra and Tajdar Babar and the two Delhi ministers.

Maken, critical of the CM on several issues in recent past, targeted her for providing subsidy from the government. He said that the tax payer’s money would be used for the subsidy demanding that the entire rollback amount should be borne by the discoms. The he dropped the bombshell demanding the resignation. Outer Delhi MP Sajjan Kumar targeted her on several fronts – providing subsidy, faulty agreement with the discoms which ensures 16 percent profit and CM’s earlier defence of the power tariff hike. “Is she the spokesperson of the discoms or the government,” he is believed to have asked in the meeting.

Tytler, fresh from being dropped from the Union Cabinet, also hit Dikshit’s policy on Power. He asked the stand of the government on fast meters and forceful installation. The Delhi Sadar MP raised the issue of DVB arrears and asked why have they been given to the discoms on a platter.

This is the second political crisis to hit the Dikshit government in the last five months. She had walked out of the meeting of the DPCC executive committee in April. This had led to a political crisis of sorts which was sorted out only after the intervention of the Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

Sources in the party said that the threat to Dikshit is real this time. However, given the political culture of the party, she may not be asked to go immediately. The other formula being explored is a major reshuffle in the Cabinet with the dropping of at least four ministers – all Dikshit loyalists. (2005)