The Hindu : New Delhi News : Ram Babu faction dominates new list

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 25, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Ram Babu faction dominates new list

Sujay Mehdudia

Eleven out of twelve district presidents dropped in latest reshuffle in Delhi Congress

NEW DELHI: Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Ram Babu Sharma has once again got the better of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, bagging a major share of appointments cleared by the party high command for its districts and blocks here in the Capital. Not only have Ms. Dikshit's supporters been totally ignored, Mr. Sharma has also dropped 11 of the 12 districts presidents in the latest reshuffle.

That is not all. Even the list of Pradesh Congress Committee delegates is loaded with supporters of Mr. Sharma and other senior Congress leaders including the sitting Members of Parliament from Delhi. However, the Chief Minister has managed to get some of her supporters accommodated in the list of AICC delegates. Party leaders like Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler, Ajay Maken, R.K. Anand and even R.K. Dhawan have managed to get their people accommodated in the latest list. However, all eyes are now on the list of PCC office-bearers that is under finalisation by the party leadership and could be announced any time.

Interestingly, as expected, loyalist MLAs of the Chief Minister have not been given their choice of block or district presidents in a majority of cases. The list was approved by the AICC general secretary in charge of Delhi, Ashok Gehlot, after a formal nod from party president Sonia Gandhi.

Except for Tilak Nagar, where veteran Lakhbir Singh Chadha has managed to hold sway, all the other old district presidents have been axed. The new district presidents include Jagjivan Sharma (City), S.P. Singh Bittoo (Sadar), Arunesh Sharma (New Delhi), Krishna Tirath (Karol Bagh) with Rajiv Gambhir as working president, Bhushan Tyagi (Adarsh Nagar), Amrish Gautam (Krishna Nagar), Razia Sultan (Babarpur), Malaram Gangwal (Rohini), Chaudhary Ram Kala (Najafgarh), Tek Chand Sharma (Mehrauli), Shanti Swaroop (Malviya Nagar). Only in Krishna Nagar district Mr. Gautam, a sitting MLA from Patparganj, is the choice of the MP from East Delhi, Sandeep Dikshit, and was agreed to by Mr. Sharma and other party leaders.

In the case of PCC delegates, a total of 140 delegates have been cleared in the elected category. Another eight have been cleared from the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) quota, which includes a majority of Ms. Dikshit's supporters. It is learnt that the party high command had cleared certain prominent names as elected PCC delegates despite resistance from certain quarters. Former treasurer Dinesh Gupta, who had resigned after levelling serious allegations of wrongdoing against Chaudhary Prem Singh last year, has been elected as a delegate by the central leadership from Mayur Vihar in Krishna Nagar district despite facing strong opposition from Mr. Singh and his supporters. Similarly, sitting Rajya Sabha member and AICC general secretary Janardhan Diwedi has been elected from Mandawali. AICC office-bearers Dalbir Singh and Praveen Davar have been accommodated from Bhogal and Gulmohar Park. Interestingly, Ms. Dikshit was given her choice of the block president in the shape of Sukha Ram but her plea was not considered for the district president that has gone to her archrivals.

"We have tried to accommodate the interests of all the sections including women and Scheduled Castes in the organisation of blocks, districts and PCC delegates," said Mr. Ram Babu Sharma.

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