NDMC rejig has Sheila fuming

An angry Dikshit shot off a strongly worded letter to the Union Home Ministry last week objecting to the proposal,wary that the move could provide much-needed opening for her bete noire Ajay Maken,at present the Minister of State for Home Affairs at the Centre.

The proposal,to be taken up on Thursday by the Cabinet,is to have a political head as its chairperson. Now,the 11-member body is chaired by an IAS officer and the CM is an ordinary member,leading to a piquant situation relating to protocol. Maken,as MP from the area,is a special invitee to the Council.

The Cabinet note therefore proposes that a clause be approved for the NDMC to be headed by the Chief Minister,provided that he or she represents an Assembly constituency located in the NDMC area. This clause ensures that Sheila Dikshit will head the NDMC after the Cabinet approval,as she represents the constituency of New Delhi.

However,the proposal envisages three significant clauses that clearly favour her key rival Maken. Besides proposing that the MP from the NDMC area be made a permanent member of the Council,it says that in the event that the Chief Minister is not from the NDMC area,the Council shall be headed by a Union Minister representing a Lok Sabha constituency that falls in the NDMC area. And thirdly,when both these conditions are not fulfilled,the NDMC shall be headed by the MP who represents a Lok Sabha constituency falling in the NDMC area.

Dikshit has so far zealously guarded her turf in the Capital,ensuring that her detractors like Maken do not get any manouvering space. In fact,it was because of the turf war that Maken had to be shifted to the Centre and accomodated as a Minister of State.