The Hindu : New Delhi News : Sheila loyalists resign from PAC

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Wednesday, Jan 18, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Sheila loyalists resign from PAC

Staff Reporter

Move likely to bring out party infighting into the open

NEW DELHI: In a move that is likely to bring out infighting within the Congress into the open, four legislators owing allegiance to Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit have resigned from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Delhi Assembly in protest against the adoption of the report on privatisation of power on Monday.

In their resignation letters addressed to Delhi Assembly Speaker Chaudhary Prem Singh, the four MLAs -- Narendra Nath, Baljore Singh, Vir Singh Dhingan and Ramesh Lamba -- have protested against the functioning of the PAC chairman and Congress MLA, S.C. Vats, and have expressed their lack of confidence in his leadership.

Surprisingly, these MLAs did not resign the day the report was adopted by the PAC and waited for more than a week to express their feelings. It is learnt that these MLAs met the Speaker on Tuesday afternoon and submitted their resignations. All the MLAs are considered close to the Chief Minister and their move is being seen as an attempt to block the adoption of the report in the budget session of the Vidhan Sabha.

These MLAs have in the past also raised a lot of questions about the functioning of the PAC as well as the report it had prepared on privatisation of power. During the last meeting, the BJP MLA, Vijay Jolly had sought Mr. Nath's resignation on the grounds that being the former Power Minister he had no moral right to be part of the committee that is debating the same issue. The report is a stinging indictment of the privatisation process and the "undue concessions" given to the big business houses in awarding contracts for power distribution network in the Capital. The report has also charged the Core Committee of the State Government with going out of the way to oblige private companies and demanded a CBI probe into their conduct including making chances in the various documents for monetary considerations. The report, if tabled and adopted in the House, could turn out to be a major embarrassment for the Delhi Government and even lead to rolling of heads.

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