Sheila Dikshit's nominees in AICC

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, MARCH 25.

The Chief Minister, Ms. Sheila Dikshit, has once again proved she is in command and capable of handling the dissidents, unmindful of their numbers are or who are in their ranks. In a master stroke, Ms. Dikshit has been able to get her people nominated as AICC(I) members leaving the rebels licking their wounds.

Insiders in the party said the leadership had cleared five more names as AICC(I) members from Delhi in addition to the already 36 elected and co-opted members who got through during the organisational polls. It is no secret that the Chief Minister had suffered a setback in the party polls in November as not many of her people got elected as DPCC(I) delegates or AICC(I) members. But she has struck back with a vengeance and has been able to persuade the party president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, to go out of the way and nominate five more members.

The list of new members is headed by the party MLA and Wakf Board Chairman, Mr. Haroon Yusuf. Others are, Mr. Anees Durrani, Ms. Anjana Kanwar, Mr. K.K. Malik and Mr. Dhirendra Tyagi. Of the five, the first three are known to be Sheila Dikshit loyalists. Ms. Kanwar, who had serious differences with the Chief Minister, is learnt to have bought peace with her. While Mr. Malik was once close to the CWC member, Mr. R.K. Dhawan, and now has the backling of AICC(I) leader, Mr. R.N. Mittal, his nomination is learnt to have been approved by the Chief Minister. Mr. Tyagi is learnt to be close to 10 Janpath and that probably earned him a place.

The nomination of four members of the Sheila Dikshit camp has once again proved that she continues to command the confidence of the party leadership. Also, the sheer timing of the appointments and the way they were got done secretly has astonished her rivals. It is understood that not many in the DPCC(I) knew about what was coming and the nominations came as a bolt from the blue.

These smart moves by Ms.Dikshit have resulted in confusion in the dissidents camp. It has been plagued with serious ego problems and personality clash during the past few weeks. In fact, the emergence of the young people like Mr. Mukesh Sharma, Mr. Arvinder Singh Lovely, Mr.Mahabal Mishra and Mr. Bhisham Sharma, as forceful leaders who have been raising various important issues concerning the city and the people has led to some problems in the dissident camp.

The emergence of these leaders is not being liked by some MLAs in the rebel camp and there has been a change of equations which was quite evident during the Budget session. Mr.Raj Kumar Chauhan, a Sajjan Kumar loyalist, of late has been drifting away from the rebels. He was seen actively joining the loyalists in disrupting the proceedings of the House on Friday along with another Sajjan loyalist, Mr. Mala Ram Gangwal. In fact, the Sajjan Kumar faction has been weakened to a large extent during the past few months. The know Dalit leader and former MLA, Mr. Jaikishen, is also learnt to be annoyed with Mr. Sajjan Kumar and is planning to chart a different course. He is upset at being meted out step- motherly treatment and continued attempts to cut him down to size by those close to Mr. Kumar.

On the other hand, the Chief Minister has unleashed the former MP, Mr.Tarif Singh, to take on Mr. Kumar in Outer Delhi. Mr. Singh is in the running for the post of the Chairman of the proposed Delhi Rural Welfare Board and has been organising meetings and rallies in Outer Delhi with the blessings of Ms. Dikshit to unite those opposed to Mr. Kumar.

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