The Hindu : New Delhi News : AICC unhappy over MCD infighting

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 20, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

AICC unhappy over MCD infighting

By Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI, MAY 19. The elections to various posts in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi have brought the infighting in the Delhi Congress out into the open. With the daggers drawn, the All-India Congress Committee is understood to be extremely unhappy with the conduct of several local leaders in the whole affair. It has blamed them for not arriving at a consensus leading to chaos and confusion and in turn damaging the image of the party.

The elections to 32 posts of various ward committees and nominations to the Standing Committee were surrounded by controversy. In fact, the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, and the Outer Delhi MP, Sajjan Kumar, have emerged stronger from the exercise managing to get the maximum number of their people elected to the various posts. The Sadar MP, Jagdish Tytler, and the Chandni Chowk MP, Kapil Sibal, have also managed to get their own personal favourites nominated to various posts. However, the major loser has been the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president, Chaudhary Prem Singh, who had locked horns with Ms. Dikshit and Mr. Kumar on various posts.

Had it not been the AICC secretary, Anil Shastri, who intervened to sort out matters, things could have taken a turn for the worse. Mr. Shastri was strongly of the view that AICC had no business to involve itself in the affairs of the Corporation and the DPCC and the Chief Minister at the local level should have carried out the exercise. Mr. Shastri had to face a hostile situation due to the partisan and ineffective role of the local leaders in the Delhi Congress and in the Corporation. Interestingly, the Leader of the House, Satbir Singh, has come in for flak for his dubious role and could be at the receiving end of the party. It is learnt that both the AICC leader in-charge Delhi, Ahmed Patel and Mr. Shastri, have expressed unhappiness at the role of Mr. Singh who had prevented certain Councillors from filing their nominations even after their names were cleared at the AICC level.

Sources said Mr. Shastri had consulted all the newly-elected Members of Parliament, the DPCC president, the Chief Minister and other local leaders before arriving at any decision. "There has been a clear defiance of the AICC orders in certain cases and the exercise is on to identify the people behind this. Mr. Patel and Mr. Shastri would suggest appropriate action against some leaders whose role has not been very good in the whole affair," a senior leader remarked.

In fact, Mr. Prem Singh has been at the receiving end in the whole exercise and has not been able to get his own people accommodated in the various posts. The elections also brought out in the open the strong divide within the party as both Mr. Kumar and Mr. Prem Singh tired to upstage each other with Mr. Kumar having the last laugh. Mr. Kumar has been able to get all his people accommodated in the Rohini and Najafgarh zones by getting majority of the candidates suggested by Mr. Prem Singh rejected. This is likely to aggravate the infighting within the party and further deepen the divide between the DPCC and the Delhi Government.

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