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Sheila weathers the storm; tackles rebels

Sujay Mehdudia

Congress dissidents see red in Ajay Maken's emergence in Delhi's political scene

NEW DELHI: The division in the dissidents' ranks, the decision to roll back the 10 per cent increase in power tariffs and the late monsoon showers have helped Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit tide over another political storm, leaving her rivals without any major issues to corner her.

Political observers feel that fissures in the ranks of the dissident leaders, especially senior Congressmen, have helped the Chief Minister to not only soften the queered pitch against her but also beat her rivals at their own game. The very fact that the dust has settled down after the recent upsurge among the people and within the party over the power tariffs hike issue is indicative of the sharp differences that have cropped up in the dissidents' ranks.

"The Chief Minister's camp handled the dissident leaders individually and tapped them behind the scene. They all want to become either the Chief Minister or a Minister and this is what has created such a situation. This sentiment was fully exploited by Ms. Dikshit and her political managers, resulting in these leaders devising different strategies and ending up with egg on their face,'' a senior leader remarked.

The Chief Minister's camp was wary of the former Delhi Transport Minister and now the Member of Parliament from New Delhi, Ajay Maken, from the very beginning. It was felt that Mr. Maken had successfully upped the ante on the power hike issue, plunging the Government into a crisis. However, partymen confessed that many dissident leaders and MLAs, harbouring big dreams and fearing that they would be over-shadowed by Mr. Maken in the party, decided to charter their own course and in the end turned the advantage in favour of Ms. Dikshit whose strategy of divide and rule was successful.

"There were sharp differences of opinion within the dissident leaders over the course of action to be adopted at the Congress Legislature Party meeting on August 30. The strategy was changed several times and everybody gave up after it emerged that some leaders had compromised with the Chief Minister behind the scene. This helped Ms. Dikshit to tackle the major crisis and emerge stronger from it,'' a senior MLA revealed.

Observers are of the view that the emergence of Mr. Maken on the political scene of Delhi and his good equation with the party high command has certainly made many Delhi leaders nervous. Many feel threatened by his presence and rise in stature and that is the reason why some dissident leaders switched sides at the last minute and grounded the entire move against the loyalist camp. It is to the credit of Ms. Dikshit that she got the better of her rivals for the umpteenth time leaving them licking their wounds, another MLA remarked.

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