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Consensus over Statehood for Delhi?

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI OCT. 16. Both the Congress and the BJP today claimed to have worked out a broad "consensus'' on Statehood for Delhi, including "special status,'' vis-a-vis security and financial systems. It was decided to incorporate a special clause "J'' into Article 371 of the Constitution to give special powers to the Union Government in these two areas.

But fireworks witnessed during the much-awaited meeting between the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, and the Delhi BJP president, Madan Lal Khurana, and their subsequent joint press briefing were indicative of the divide between the two parties and the fact that there was still a long way to go.

The issue of two controversial Union Home Ministry circulars seeking to curtail the Delhi Government's powers was the bone of contention and both the parties clashed before the entire press corps. While Mr. Khurana desired that a Bill in this regard be introduced during the winter session of Parliament, the Chief Minister said it was too premature to arrive at such a conclusion.

While the Chief Minister's team included her Finance Minister, Mahinder Singh Saathi, the Urban Development Minister, A.K. Walia, the Industry Minister, Deep Chand Bandhu, the DPCC president, Subhash Chopra, and the former Minister, Narendra Nath, Mr. Khurana's delegation included the Leader of the Opposition, Jagdish Mukhi, the BJP Chief Whip, Nand Kishore Garg, and the former Minister, Harsharan Singh Balli.

Ms. Dikshit said the Congress-led Government in Delhi had come out with a paper on the issue and presented it to the BJP. While the Congress wanted control of the Delhi Development Authority and the MCD to be handed over to the Delhi Government, the BJP insisted on inclusion of NDMC also which was agreed to by the Congress.

As for VVIP security and financial matters, it was felt that a special status be accorded to Delhi by the Central Government. The Chief Minister also made it clear to the BJP that she would like the issue to be debated by experts and citizens before any firm proposal is drawn up and taken to the Union Ministry.

Ms. Dikshit said there was, however, no consensus on the two circulars and the BJP had refused to take a stand on curtailment of powers of the Government, indicating that it would not cooperate with the Congress. However, Mr. Khurana intervened to say that the BJP had nothing to do with the circulars. He agreed that some consensus had emerged over Statehood but hastened to add that the issue of DDA and MCD control would automatically be settled once Delhi was granted Statehood.

``This is not the first and last round of discussions,'' said Ms. Dikshit. The issue is so important that it would need lot more rounds of discussion.''

"And one should not forget that the Central Government is the third party in the whole affair and would like its views to be also incorporated before any consensus is arrived at.''

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