NEW DELHI: With panic having gripped the Congress camp after the Election Commission of India issued notices to 19 Congress MLAs and one Member of Parliament over the "office of profit" issue, a nervous Sheila Dikshit Government is understood to have decided on Monday to convene a one-day special session of the Delhi Assembly on May 16.

Earlier, the idea was to hold the session on May 13 but that turned out to be a public holiday on account of Buddha Purnima, forcing the Government to change the date to May 16.

Although officially the Government claimed that the session had been called to discuss the Tejinder Khanna Committee report and its proposals, but it was clear that it was contemplating bringing in a legislation to deal with the situation arising out of the office of profit controversy. In fact, the Delhi Government through the Chief Minister's Office has already submitted its proposals to the Tejinder Khanna Committee. "How can the Government discuss anything about the Khanna Committee as it has not even submitted its report. If they want to submit their proposals now, then it is too late in the day as the committee is on the verge of finalising its report and submitting the same to the Union Urban Development Ministry,'' a senior Minister remarked.

Insiders in the Government informed that the Chief Minister had convened an emergency meeting on the issue of office of profit on Sunday with the officials of the Law Department where the whole issue was discussed threadbare. It was felt that if the Government does not act fast, then a large number of MLAs are sure to face disqualification. Such a scenario could even throw the Sheila Dikshit Government into minority till the holding of bye-elections to those seats. It is understood that Ms. Dikshit had already discussed the matter with the Central Government functionaries and it was then decided to come out with an appropriate legislation on the issue. Although the Government is tight lipped about the proposed legislation but it is clear that it will be an attempt to bail out the legislators who are on the verge of losing their membership of the House.

Meanwhile, the Saket BJP legislator, Vijay Jolly, who had filed this complaint with the Election Commission of India, said the Sheila Dikshit Government would soon be reduced to a minority Government as 19 of its MLAs were certain to face disqualification. Stating that the Supreme Court judgement had vindicated his stand, Mr. Jolly decried the attempts by the Delhi Government to bulldoze the judgement of the court in the matter. He told newsmen that the claims of Ms. Dikshit of holding high standards in public life had been exposed by this incident adding that it was unfortunate that when their own Congress president, Sonia Gandhi had chosen to resign and contest again, her party MLAs in Delhi were acting in a contradictory manner belittling the sacrifice of their leader.

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