The Hindu : New Delhi News : DPCC polls to be delayed further

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 29, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

DPCC polls to be delayed further

Sujay Mehdudia

List of returning officers to be notified shortly A large number of Congress MLAs have approached Mr. Ram Babu Sharma for appointing their own man as the block or district president in order to ensure smooth functioning in their constituency

NEW DELHI: : The recent political crisis in the Delhi Congress is likely to delay the completion of the organisational polls that were scheduled to be completed by April 30. Although the list of the District Returning Officers (DROs) and the Block Returning Officers (BROs) has been forwarded to the party high command, the faction led by the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president, Ram Babu Sharma, is likely to grab a major chunk of posts and representations in the DPCC.

It is learnt the Pradesh Returning Officer (PRO), Mahesh Joshi, has forwarded the list of 12 DROs and 89 BROs to the Union Minister for Programme Implementation, Oscar Fernandes, who is looking after the conduct of the organisational polls in the party. The list is expected to be notified shortly after discussions with the party general secretary in-charge Delhi, Ashok Gehlot, and Mr. Ram Babu Sharma. It is a different matter that the list has been loaded with the supporters and favourites of the DPCC chief. Insiders in the party informed that the entire election process had to be completed by April 30 but due to the recent feud in the party and the crisis that continued for almost an entire week, the process was delayed and the polls would now be completed only during the first fortnight of May.

Mr. Sharma is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that he gets total control over the organisation. It is learnt that a large number of Congress MLAs have approached Mr. Sharma for appointing their own man as the block or district president in order to ensure smooth functioning in their constituency. However, Mr. Sharma is unlikely to oblige the loyalist MLAs who could face a tough time with installation of individuals who are opposed to them politically or in some other manner in their own constituency. "True to the Congress tradition the idea of the whole exercise is to upset the working of the legislators who are loyal to the Chief Minister and ensure they remain disturbed and distracted from performing their normal duties,'' a senior leader remarked.

Interestingly, the Chief Minister is understood to have requested for accommodating her supporters as block and district presidents in her own constituency.

Although the organisational polls are unlikely to create any kind of acrimony within the party, clashes among certain leaders could occur at many places. For instance, the East Delhi Parliamentary seat consists of three districts - Adarsh Nagar, Babarpur, Krishna Nagar. Mr. Sharma has refused to oblige the East Delhi Member of Parliament, Sandeep Dikshit, by conceding even a single district to his supporters and is bent upon having his way in all the three districts. Similarly, in South Delhi Parliamentary constituency, the battle is between the former DPCC president, Subhash Chopra, and the Congress Rajya Sabha member, R.K. Anand. While Mr. Anand is not in a mood to give any space to Mr. Chopra in appointment of two districts presidents for Malviya Nagar and Tilak Nagar districts, Mr. Chopra is unlikely to give up his claim and this could lead to a clash like situation. However, there is little or no dispute in Sadar, New Delhi, Chandni Chowk, Karol Bagh, Outer Delhi constituencies and everything is expected to pass off smoothly.

The DPCC sends 89 delegates who in turn vote to elect the Congress president. Then another 15 to 17 AICC delegates are elected or nominated from the DPCC.

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