SO FAR it was deuce.But recent developments indicate the game is now poised at political match point. In Delhi it’s Congress versus Congress as Sheila Dikshit is given yet another reprieve while her detractors are either removed or cut to size.Heading a Cabinet whose ministers have turned against her, the Congress’only lady CM has again come out tops in the faction-ridden party. An outsider to Delhi politics,she has survived as Chief Minister for eight-and-a-half years.And recent events indicate that she will be leading the party’s elections in the next round of Assembly polls slated for end-2008. Described as a lone ranger in the hurly-burly ofDelhi politics,she is known to have very few friends in politics with the grapevine suggesting that her relations with Sonia Gandhi have reached an all-time low and that the Congress president had been in a mood to remove her on a number of occasions but then opted for a status quo.In the latest round of infighting in the Delhi Congress,Ajay Maken was seriously considered as an option but the idea was dropped as it would have entailed two by-elections,Lok Sabha and Assembly,since Maken is an MP.
In 1991, after the death of Rajiv Gandhi,when PV Narasimha Rao took over as the Prime Minister,Sheila Dikshit went into political oblivion.During the latter Rajiv years,she was known to openly oppose gimmicks such as replicating the Dandi march (in which Rajiv was dressed up as Mahatma Gandhi) much to the chagrin of Rajiv’s courtiers like Mani Shankar Aiyar and adman Romi Chopra whom she believed concocted PR schemes that would detract from her leader’s image Later, she would spend her time reading and bonding with her two daughters in her small Nizamuddin flat. Occasionally, she would come alone to the India International Centre but avoided being overly gregarious. But she always welcomed her old friends with a ready smile. It was a vanvas that lasted 10 years.It coincided with the period when Sonia Gandhi was also sitting at home and the two – already well known to each other when Dikshit was MoS in the Rajiv Gandhi regime – became firm friends. The result was Dikshit’s appointment as Delhi PCC president after Sonia took over as party chief.A Delhi Punjabi girl who studied at Miranda House,she met husband Vinod Dikshit while the two were studying at Delhi university.She married into the prominent Brahmin UP family and did her polit ical apprenticeship under the guidance of her father-in-law, Congress leader and Home Minister Uma Shanker Dikshit.
Dikshit’s first victim was Makhan Lal Fotedar the man who brought her to the hot seat.In 1999, three Rajya Sabha vacancies from Delhi came up as BJP leaders OP Kohli,Vijay Kumar Malhotra and KR Malkani retired.Fotedar had his eye on one of the seats and expected Dikshit to support him.She plumped for Karan Singh who was Madhav Rao Scindia’s samdhi.Scindia had been made AICC General Secretary in charge of Delhi and was on the fast track to Sonia Gandhi Though,within the Delhi unit of the Congress as well as in her government,she has always had a large number of detractors with 37 Congress MLAs having signed a petition against her in 2003,she has always been the darling of the media.And it is to a large extent because of media backing that she has retained her hold on Delhi politics.The Delhi government’s media budget is upwards of Rs 80 crore with Delhi papers getting a large chunk of that money. But what has intrigued Congress leaders is the special patronage she bestows on a paper with BJP-RSS backing published from Delhi.Recently,when she stopped advertisements to two of the capital’s biggest dailies as she felt they were not supporting her,the huge ad support to this paper continued.Even RSS mouthpiece Panchjanyahas been a beneficiary of the Congress CM.
Political observers say Dikshit, apart
from having a hot line to Brahmin BJP
leaders, has a good relationship with
the Delhi Assembly opposition leader
Observers of the Delhi Congress scene say Dikshit,apart from having a hot line to senior Brahmin leaders in the BJP (from her close relations with Brajesh Mishra to touching Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s feet),also has a good working relationship with the leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly,Jagdish Mukhi.At the start of every Assembly session,he moves an adjournment motion against her government which the BJP loses and that takes the steam out of any campaign against her for the rest of the session.
There are allegations that the BJP has helped in her growth in the wake of bitter infighting between its leaders like Madan Lal Khurana and the late Sahib Singh Verma.She even enjoyed a good relationship with the former Lt-Governor of Delhi,Vijay Kapoor,who was a BJP appointee.There were allegations of a business relationship between the two. Former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh was her biggest supporter and bailed her out a number of times.But, with his eclipse, sources say Manmohan Singh is now her only supporter in the party.She has good relations with both him and Montek Singh Ahluwalia.In the CPI(M),Sitaram Yechury is seen as a big supporter of Dikshit. His wife was a classmate of Dikshit’s daughter, Latika.
Dikshit also gives a great deal of play
to bureaucrats. She runs all the
departments and ministries through
principal secretaries
The Delhi Chief Minister relies mostly on two persons for the bulk of her work – her sister,Rama Dhawan,and her PA, Pawan Khera. Dhawan is Dikshit’s anchorperson. She has an office in the CM’s house and spends Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays there – meeting people, resolving their problems, looking after the CM’s constituency, and taking political and bureaucratic decisions. Khera is an old friend of Dikshit’s son,Sandeep,who is now the Lok Sabha MP from East Delhi. Khera is trusted and powerful. He compiles data, makes notes, checks out all Cabinet ministers, chairmen of boards, political and administrative functionaries and gives her feedback. He is seen as the political messenger and,along with Dhawan,handles the money. Dikshit is also known to give a great deal of play to bureaucrats as opposed to her political colleagues. She runs all the departments and ministries through principal secretaries who take decisions in consultation with her regarding finance, power, transport and other major areas. And that, say leaders, is the crux of the unhappiness with her, since ministers feel sidelined.
She is seen as one of the few leaders who has made an effort to build a second-rung leadership. But Ajay Maken, Haroon Yusuf and Lovely have all turned against her and have been working overtime to remove her.Her detractors admit she is a highly political person and a dangerous opponent.She fights her battles,sometimes to the bitter end,not quitting easily.Articulate in both Hindi and English,Dikshit is a motherly figure who comes across as peoplefriendly and remains the Congress’ most acceptable face in Delhi. Touted as her three major achievements,the CNG buses, flyovers and the Metro were actually the handiwork of the courts and previous BJP governments to which she put the finishing touches
The buzz is that her successor in her Assembly seat will be daughter Latika Dikshit Sayeed, who is currently not in politics,while son Sandeep Dikshit,already an MP,will continue in national politics.
Renu Mittal
Renu Mittal is a veteran Journalist of India. She has been reporting on the Congress Party affairs since 1983.
