CM hits out at Yatra politics

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JUNE 15.

The Delhi Chief Minister, Ms.Sheila Dikshit, today launched a scathing attack on the BJP and accused it of indulging in ``Rath Yatra'' politics with the sole aim of fanning trouble in the country. She declared that Congress(I) always thought of the people's welfare and worked for it.

Wrapping up the marathon debate on the splitting of the MCD at a special one-day session here, Ms. Dikshit said Congress(I) was a party that looked to and represented the needs and aspiration of the people. It is not a party born out of ``Rath Yatras'', like the BJP. She said the Rath Yatra for the Ram Temple which dented the secular fabric of the country.

She emphasised the need for more political weightage in the proposed elected municipal bodies along with adequate financial viability. She stressed the need for powers to the decentralised local set-up proposed in the rural areas of Delhi.

Ms. Dikshit said that the proposed metropolitan board will prove to be highly effective in dealing with the overall planning of Delhi and bring the local bodies, including the DDA, NDMC and Cantonment Board, under one umbrella.

The Chief Minister said MCD had failed to live upto the expectations of the people and the aim was to improve the quality of life. Referring to the Virendra Prakash Committee report, she took the BJP and its leaders to task for resorting to blatant lies. She said BJP had played politics in this also as contrary to their claim that they were not invited to present their views, the reality is that these leaders failed to turn before the Committee.

Terming the Malhotra Committee report as an ``eye-wash'', she said her party and government were of the strong opinion that the power should go to the grassroots and there should be accountability and efficiency in the system. The Virendra Prakash Committee was set up primarily to review the structure and working of the MCD due to widespread concern about the poor quality of civic services and the need to come up with a new structure with a more responsive and effective delivery mechanism. ``The story of record of performance of MCD has already been referred to. It is a story of unmitigated failure on all fronts. The decline in both the quantum and quality of delivery of basic services has been unabated and fast,'' she added.

The Chief Minister said that the report of the House Committee would be placed before the Assembly during the Monsoon session. The BJP members staged a walkout when the Chief Minister refused to entertain an amendment brought in by the Leader of the Opposition, Prof. Jagdish Mukhi.

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