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`Special treatment' hurts Dr. Walia

Sujay Mehdudia

Minister who will be in the thick of things for Commonwealth Games 2010 has been left out of the Delhi Govt. team to Melbourne

NEW DELHI: Its hands already full with infighting in the Delhi unit of the party, the Congress high command will now have to contend with the "deep divide" within the Delhi Cabinet that now threatens to derail the working of the Sheila Dikshit Government in its second term in office.

According to sources in the Delhi Government, not only does the Cabinet stand divided over various issues, Finance and Urban Development Minister A.K. Walia is also "unhappy" with the manner in which things were being handled and .

The latest incident that has aggravated matters is the directive of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to Dr. Walia to stay posted here in the Capital even as she led a huge entourage to Melbourne.

"The Minister who holds the important portfolio's of Finance, Public Works Department and Urban Development has been left behind along with senior officials when everybody knows that he would be in the forefront of sanctioning, monitoring and implementing infrastructure projects in the run-up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Instead, officials who are about to retire in the next few months have been flown to Melbourne," a senior official remarked.

This is not the first time that Dr. Walia has been meted out this "special treatment". He was earlier asked to stay back during the all-important AICC session in Hyderabad in January this year. Similarly, on an earlier occasion he was asked to cancel his visit to Australia at the last moment.

Political observers point out that it were the loyalists of Sheila Dikshit who had launched a campaign against Dr. Walia, Transport Minister Haroon Yusuf and Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely last year. Instead of reprimanding the MLAs who had opened a front against the Ministers, they were encouraged in their activities leading to the present situation.

"The divide is complete as Dr. Walia is not invited for important meetings concerning his departments when a review is taken by the Chief Minister, something that did not happen earlier," another official stated.

In another development that is described by political observers as a clear departure from past practice, the Chief Minister went ahead and laid the foundation stone of a new "Dilli Haat" at Pitampura earlier this week in the absence of Tourism Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely who was away in Melbourne. Official circles are surprised that despite the fact that Mr. Lovely's name is inscribed on the foundation stone, the ceremony took place after his departure to Australia.

"The Chief Minister could have waited for a few days for this function as the concerned Minister was away," said a senior Minister.

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