Congress infighting affects administration

By Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI, MAY 25.

The showdown between warring factions in the Delhi unit of the Congress(I) coupled with indecisiveness of the AICC(I) general secretary, Mr. Kamal Nath, on pending matters regarding Delhi is having an adverse impact on the administration and workers, especially as the party faces municipal polls early next year.

Insiders in the Government say the sharp differences between the Chief Minister, Ms. Sheila Dikshit, and the senior leaders including Mr. Sajjan Kumar, Mr.Jagdish Tytler and the DPCC(I) president, Mr. Subhash Chopra, had held up appointments to various positions causing much damage at a time when the party has to get down with the job of creating awareness about its achievements at the grassroots level. The pre-occupation of Mr. Nath with national politics and his failure to devote time to sort out matters has only compounded the situation.

A prime agenda that has been put on the backburner for the past two months affecting district and block level planning and politics is the appointment of nine District Development Committee (DDC) chairmen. The term of the previous DDCs expired on March 31 and since then the matter has been hanging fire due to failure of the leadership to clear the names.

The stand-off between the two factions has not helped matters and the list of candidates prepared from among the MLAs does not have a stamp of approval from the top. This could have a cascading effect on the planning process and had already blocked the implementation of various projects.

The responsibility of the DDCs has increased considerably as they now have been entrusted with the additional task of monitoring the spending of MLA Constituency Development Fund and decide on various projects. The names of Mr. Mala Ram Gangwal, Mr. Mahinder Yadav, Mr. Bhisham Sharma, Ms. Meira Bhardwaj, Ms. Tajdar Babbar, Mr. Rama Kant Goswami, Mr. Ram Singh Netaji, Mr. Amrish Gautam, Mr. Talvinder Singh Marwah and Mr. Raj Kumar Chauhan are being mentioned.

The failure of the leadership to clear the names of MLAs for DDCs has not helped matters. ``We cannot afford to lose time in this crucial year and all efforts should be directed at doing as much work as possible at the lower level. But no thought is being given by the leaders and this does not speak highly of a party which is eying to capture power in the civic polls,'' a party MLA remarked. In fact, it is believed that both factions are pushing for inclusion of their MLAs. In this power game, the MLAs who have been neutral could be the casualties.

It is understood that the Chief Minister, who has prepared a list of nine MLAs to be nominated, had raised the matter with Mr. Nath last week but no final decision could be taken. This was because leaders from both factions were busy discussing their personal agenda and fought over less important issues. It is also believed that the nomination of three members to the Delhi Jal Board is also pending clearance from the party high command.

Sources said a decision on these issues is only expected to be taken after Mr. Nath returns here on May 29.

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