The Hindu : New Delhi News : `Leadership change only if Sonia desires'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 04, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

`Leadership change only if Sonia desires'

Staff Reporter

Sheila exhorts party MLAs to stand united to take on the Opposition

NEW DELHI: Stating that mishandling of the bureaucracy was responsible for the defeat of the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress Government in Rajasthan in the last elections, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Friday asserted that any leadership change in Delhi would take place only at the instance of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her political secretary Ahmed Patel.

"I may not remain the Chief Minister tomorrow and someone else could occupy this chair after me, but the need of the hour is to join hands and stand united to take on the Opposition. It is important for the Congress Government and the party to work jointly to ensure that the civic body polls are contested under a united banner. Any change in leadership will take place only if Ms. Gandhi or Mr. Patel desire. Till that happens, we have to take on the BJP in a united manner," she told the party MLAs at the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting held at the Delhi Assembly premises. The party MLAs were surprised by the sudden reference of the Chief Minister to leadership change issue.

Refuting the charge of party MLAs that bureaucracy had become over-dominant in Delhi, Ms. Dikshit said the reason why the former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot lost in Rajasthan was because he mishandled the bureaucracy. "In Punjab also we are going to contest polls next year and something like this could happen," she added.

Ms. Dikshit asserted that the bureaucracy needed to be protected as their anti-government stand often led to the defeats of the elected governments, a view that was not subscribed to by the majority of the legislators. Interestingly, Mr. Gehlot is presently the AICC general secretary in charge of Delhi affairs.

Ms. Dikshit chose to address the MLAs at the start of the CLP meeting after a long time and then various legislators were given time to make their viewpoint known.

Acknowledging that there was shortage of water and power in the Capital, Ms. Dikshit said ever since privatisation the power situation had improved dramatically. Referring to the issue of demolitions, Ms. Dikshit told the MLAs that there might have been some error in judgment on the issue but mistakes do happen in the process of decision making and the need of the hour was for the party to get together and fight the opposition BJP in view of the MCD polls scheduled for early next year. The infighting between the Government and the party was sending a wrong signal among the masses.

Interestingly, DPCC president Ram Babu Sharma came under severe attack from Babarpur MLA Vinay Sharma who said Mr. Ram Babu Sharma was harbouring ambitions that were not going to be fulfilled.

Accusing the DPCC president of working against the Government, Mr. Vinay Sharma said instead of highlighting the achievements of the Government, Mr. Ram Babu Sharma had been systematically attacking the Sheila Dikshit Government.

Asserting that the power and water situation was comfortable, Mr. Vinay Sharma said it was unfortunate that the Delhi party unit president was working against the interests of the Government.

For their part, the dissident MLAs remained calm and did not aggravate matters. Only the Madipur MLA, Malaram Gangwal, said that his house was targeted during the demolitions campaign at the instance of the Chief Minister's Office, something that has not been clarified so far.

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