NEW DELHI: Is Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit grooming her son Sandeep Dikshit, the Member of Parliament from East Delhi, for the big job in the city? This question seemed to be intriguing many in local political and administrative circles on Tuesday after the young Mr. Dikshit made a presentation on developing the Yamuna riverbed to the Delhi Cabinet at a meeting that was declared informal after eyebrows were raised.

It was the first time since an elected Government took office in Delhi in 1993 that a Member of Parliament had made any presentation to the Delhi Cabinet in the presence of senior officials and the Chief Minister. Mr. Dikshit also leads an NGO, Sanket, that has done successful projects in various States in the field of human resource development. It is another matter that Tuesday's development was resented by the Delhi Ministers attending the meeting who felt it was not morally correct for Ms. Dikshit to have allowed her son to make a presentation to the Cabinet -- be it informal -- as this would send a wrong signal.

In the official agenda of the Chief Minister and the Ministers, the meeting was listed as a Cabinet meeting. However, everybody was taken aback when Mr. Dikshit walked into the Cabinet meeting hall and it was announced that he would be making a presentation on the development of Yamuna riverbed that has been a scene of massive encroachments and unplanned growth.

Sources said this was an unprecedented situation and could have been handled in a better manner. It is understood that Mr. Dikshit briefed the Cabinet Ministers about the present situation on the Yamuna riverbed and its environmental impact. He also listed out remedies, reading out from an old report prepared by an environmental organisation, on how the Yamuna could be saved .

"The presence of Mr. Dikshit was a politically incorrect move and then his briefing the Cabinet Ministers was even worse. remarked a senior Minister.

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