The Hindu : New Delhi News : Sheila under fire on corruption issue

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 21, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Sheila under fire on corruption issue

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, MARCH 20. It is for the first time during the past more than six years in office that the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, has come under fire from her own partymen and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party on the issue of corruption in the administration and failure to deliver on various fronts.

The ongoing Assembly session has also brought out into the open the intra-party rivalry as many legislators have spoken out against the over-dominating bureaucracy and the humiliation of the elected representatives. It is also for the first time that Bhagidari, the pet project of the Chief Minister, has come in for sharp scrutiny by the Opposition as well as the ruling party members forcing the Chief Minister to take a defensive stand on the issue.

The very fact that Ms. Dikshit was forced to assert that no financial powers were being given to the Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) is indicative of the fact that her scheme has become stagnant after five years of launch and the Government is finding the going difficult as the Bhagidari as such has failed to deliver on various fronts. The reply of the Chief Minister has also cleared the air and the earlier proposal to bring in a legislation for empowering the Bhagidari project has been put on hold by the Government in view of the strong resentment expressed by the ruling party members.

Ms. Dikshit assertion that her project of citizen-government partnership was being taken up by various government belies the ground realities. In other States, the Panchayati Raj system is already in place though the historic decision and the Constitutional amendment brought about by the former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi. However, in Delhi all efforts are being made by the Chief Minister and some bureaucrats to undermine the local self-governance principle and take away the basic functions of the civic agencies.

The very fact that the ruling party members also took part in the deliberations to scrutinise Bhagidari indicates that even they are not convinced about this concept that has ignored their presence. On the other hand, senior party MLAs like Subhash Chopra, Pervez Hashmi, Mukesh Sharma and even two-time MLA, Meira Bhardwaj, have also put the Government in a spot. The issue of corruption for the first time seems to be clouding the office and residence of the Chief Minister with even her close relatives being accused of wrong doing by the Opposition parties and by the ruling party members in hushed voices.

Mr. Chopra took a strong stand on corruption and the decision of the Delhi Government to bar media entry into its main offices to avoid scrutiny. This is certainly going to add to the rising unpopularity of the Congress in Delhi, feel observers. The fact that instead of being open and transparent on corruption issue, the Chief Minister has sought to defend the bureaucrats and not to allow them to be hounded is indicative that bureaucracy seems to dominate the Chief Minister and party members.

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