Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar
“An indication of a major political change brewing in Delhi”
The three MLAs had charged that vehicles recovered by the CBI from the land scam accused case were offered to them as bribe
“Notices also indicate a shift in the stance of the party leadership as the incident has damaged the party image”
NEW DELHI: The issuance of show-cause notices by Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Ram Babu Sharma to three MLAs to explain within a week why on allegedly coming to know of an attempt to topple the Delhi Government they had not informed him or the party general secretary in charge of Delhi affairs Ashok Gehlot about it is being seen as an indication of a major political change brewing in Delhi.
Though Mr. Sharma insists that he has taken the step as a logical move in view of the emerging situation, sources said over the weekend that the issue of notices to MLAs Kiran Walia, Veer Singh Dhingan and Brahmpal is a clear indicator that the All-India Congress Committee leadership has backed the DPCC president’s move as he could not have gone ahead with the matter on his own.
The three MLAs had charged that vehicles recovered by the Central Bureau of Investigation from prime accused Ashok Malhotra in the Delhi multi-crore land scam case were offered to them as bribe for going against the Sheila Dikshit Government.
However, as it was revealed that the Chief Minister’s Office had itself recommended at least two VIP fancy numbers for Malhotra, the theory did not appear legitimate.
A Delhi Minister said the notices also indicate a shift in the stance of the party’s Central leadership as the incident has damaged the image of the party at large.
In fact, it had prompted three Delhi Ministers – A. K. Walia, Haroon Yusuf and Arvinder Singh Lovely – to meet Mr. Ashok Gehlot along with Union Minister of State for Urban Development Ajay Maken and Mr. Sharma to complain against the manner in which a slur campaign had been started against them.
Met Sonia Gandhi
The three Ministers had also requested for an audience with Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
They were finally called for a meeting on August 6, when their grievance was heard. Ms. Gandhi later also met Ms. Dikshit to discuss the matter.
However, she is learnt to have got irked by the manner in which some people had spread the rumour that she had chastised the three Ministers during the meeting when that was not the case.
“It is pertinent to note that Ms. Gandhi gave a patient hearing to the three Ministers. Normally dissidence is not tolerated in the party. But here there were genuine reasons for the three Ministers to feel disturbed. They had been accused by three MLAs of trying to bring down the Government,” said a senior leader.
Stating that following this meeting it was impossible for Mr. Sharma to act on his own and issue notices to the three MLAs without prior sanction of the party’s Central leadership, the leader said there are clear indications of some major changes within this month.
