NEW DELHI: Despite representations by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and pressure by the loyalist group, the Congress high command is learnt to have made it clear that "there was no question of a Cabinet reshuffle" in the near future. However, the party leadership is said to be keeping a close watch and making an assessment of the working of the Delhi Government as well as the Ministers on its own.

According to highly placed sources, Ms. Dikshit had approached the Congress leadership on a few occasions in the past few months for Cabinet reshuffle by dropping some Ministers and inducting new ones. She is understood to have taken up the matter with Congress president Sonia Gandhi also to give `a fresh look' to the Cabinet.

However, the Congress high command is understood to have ruled out any reshuffle in the Delhi Cabinet at least for the next few months.

"The Chief Minister might have her own perception of the situation in Delhi, but the party leadership does not share the same. It is of the firm view that there is no need for a reshuffle at the moment as the party has many other priorities at the national level," a senior All-India Congress Committee leader remarked.

Sources said the leadership was assessing the working of the Delhi Government and the Ministers on its own. The party high command has been flooded with representations from various sections including party cadres, leaders and MLAs on the working of the Government and all this was being taken note of. "The leadership is getting feedback from its own channels. No individual preferences can lead to a Cabinet reshuffle. There are many other issues that need to be looked into. Both the Chief Minister as well as the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Ram Babu Sharma are under scrutiny by the leadership," another leader asserted.

Sources said the high command was also seized of the divide within the Delhi Cabinet over various issues including developmental works. It is understood that some Delhi Ministers have even written to the party high command about the instances when they were overlooked by Ms. Dikshit. The latest instance was the draft Ordinance on demolitions that was not discussed in the Cabinet and was directly sent to Union Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy by the Chief Minister.

Similarly, the Ministers are also learnt to have pointed out that a group of loyalist MLAs had launched a campaign against them, but no action was initiated against them. "The working of some Ministers has also not been satisfactory. This is being constantly looked into and things would be sorted out when the time comes," sources added.

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