While questioning the Modi government’s selective targeting of UPA-appointed governors, former Kerala governor and three-time Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit said without an elected government, accountable to the people of Delhi, development work had slowed down and MLAs rendered powerless. “The reason an elected government is important is because people know who to go to for their problems — whether it is a local leader or their elected representative. Currently, ordinary people don’t know who to approach,” she said. After Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government resigned in Delhi in February this year, the Delhi Assembly has been in suspended animation. President’s rule was imposed in the capital with Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung as head of the government. Dikshit argued that in such a situation, “approachability” became a problem. “Elected representatives and politicians are always more approachable than bureaucrats. They are more in touch with the problems of the people who voted them to power,” she said. Dikshit said since her return to Delhi three weeks ago, after resigning as the governor of Kerala, she had repeatedly been approached by people who didn’t know who else to turn to. She said such problems were faced not just by the present Congress MLAs, but also by former Congress MLAs. While referring to Congress MLA from Badli, Devender Yadav’s decision to return five months’ salary — Rs 2.67 lakh — to the Delhi Chief Secretary, Dikshit said in the absence of a government in the state, MLAs weren’t able to carry out their duties. “It might have been a token gesture, but it sums up the present scenario perfectly. Without a government, a lot of work than an MLA would usually undertake is impossible,” she said. With the present deadlock over government formation showing little signs of lifting, Dikshit said it wasn’t just development work that had suffered, but also governance. “Governance isn’t just about building more flyovers and roads, though I have been told that the execution of such plans have also slowed down. Everyday problems of people aren’t being solved,” the former chief minister said.
