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Sheila, Prem Singh camps woo MLAs

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI DEC. 9. The race for Chief Ministership of Delhi began early on Tuesday morning even as the birthday celebrations of the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, were under way. The occasion was turned into a tug of war between the factions led by the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, and the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president, Chaudhary Prem Singh. Eager to prove their hold over the newly-elected party MLAs, both had asked them to assemble at different places before proceeding to 10 Janpath to greet Ms. Gandhi on her birthday.

While the Chief Minister's camp had called up MLAs and asked them to reach at 9-30 in the morning at Ms. Dikshit's residence at Mathura Road here, the same legislators got a call from Mr. Singh asking them to come to the party office at Talkatora Road. Unable to decide in the current uncertain atmosphere with whom to align, most MLAs reached the venue of the celebrations at 10 Janpath independently. A majority of the MLAs confessed that they were not in a position to spell out their stand as the high command or its observers had not indicated the mind-set of the Congress president. "If they have started quarrelling even before the election of the CLP leader, one can well imagine what would be the situation when the Government is formed,'' a party MLA remarked.

Right since last night, the MLAs got telephone calls from the Chief Minister's residence and the DPCC asking them to join their respective bandwagons. In the morning again they were called up to ensure that they did not miss out on the venue. Some of the legislators even confessed to having switched off their mobile phones for fear of being contacted by one of the senior leaders or by the Chief Minister's camp pressurising them not to reach the venue of the other camp. "It is a very difficult situation for us. We cannot refuse the senior leaders if they contact us. One does not want to earn the wrath of these leaders as they could matter in the long run, so the best thing is to avoid them,'' another MLA stated.

The crossfire did not end here. When the legislators reached the over-crowded lawns of 10 Janpath, an effort was made by the rival factions to present MLAs as a part of each other's group. However, much to the disappointment of both the factions, the unprecedented rush to greet Ms. Gandhi did not provide enough opportunity to exhibit their show of strength. As the focus shifted to the CLP meeting at AICC later, the rival factions decided to exhibit their show of strength in front Central observers.

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