Slide in Dikshit's rating...

Amitabh Shukla

New Delhi, January 23

There has been a dramatic fall in the ranking of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in the survey conducted by CNN-IBN, CSDS and HT. Dikshit, who was ranked third last year, dropped to 13 by the middle of the year and slumped to 18 at the time the survey was done. Only the Jharkhand chief minister is below her rank. Ironically, this was the time when first the demolitions and then the sealings started and dented the image of the government.

When HT asked Dikshit about the survey and whether government handling of sealings and demolitions have dented her image in recent months, she said, “I carry out my own work in the best possible way, irrespective of any survey”. She said, she was not sure how many people were interviewed, what kind of questions were put to them and what was the criteria of ranking.

DPCC president Ram Babu Sharma, considered an arch rival of Dikshit in the state Congress politics, refused to comment on the findings of the survey. “I am the head of the party and she is the head of the government. It would be unfair on my part to say anything,” he told HT.

But senior Congress leaders admitted that first the demolitions, then the sealings severely dented the image of the Chief Minister. “For several weeks after the problem began, she remained indifferent to the plight of the people and refused to comment on it. Later, she made half baked attempts to rectify it. This has not gone well with the people of the city,” said a senior Congress leader on condition of anonymity. He was hopeful that the image of the CM could be redeemed even now.

BJP state unit president Harsh Vardhan said the Delhi government and Sheila Dikshit remained insensitive to the plight of the people, particularly in her second term. “The perception that she has become callous and indifferent to the needs of the people has grown. The survey has reflected the actual sentiments of the people of the city,” he said. Vardhan said the government has failed on all fronts, be it water, power, tackling the sealing and demolition issues or rising cost of essential items.

However, there are voices of praise too for Dikshit, who has been in saddle for more than 8 years in a row as Delhi CM. V.C. Tandon of the Delhi RWA’s Joint Front said she has made a significant contribution in participative governance by involving the RWAs in policy matters. On the findings of the survey, he said this could be due to immediate problems of sealings and demolitions. (2007)