MLAs meet Sonia, want Sheila back

Two Delhi Congress MLAs met party supremo Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday demanding former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to return to Delhi politics. Okhla MLA Asif Mohammad Khan and Seelampur MLA Mateen Ahmad told Sonia Gandhi that the party needs a strong leadership.

“She agreed with the MLAs that Dikshit is the strongest Congress leader in the city and she has done a tremendous job in 15 years of her rule as the Chief Minister of the city,” a Delhi Congress source said.

However, Ahmad and Khan returned without any confirmation of any possibility of return of Dikshit in city’s politics.

The visit gave a jolt to the current party leadership in Delhi. Many senior party MLAs had not been happy with Arvinder Singh Lovely’s anointment as the new city unit chief.

Half of the party MLAs, including Mateen Ahmad, Hasan Ahmad, Asif Mohammad Khan, Haroon Yusuf and Prahalad Singh Sawhney are senior than Lovely and many of them were feeling neglected after Lovely’s elevation.

No rift

A senior party leader, however, maintained that there is no rift between the MLAs and the Delhi unit’s leadership.

“There is no need to see this incident as a result of any rift between MLAs and party’s state unit. As a party legislator it is their right to discuss about strengthening the party.

And it is also true that nobody can take the place of Dikshit in Delhi Congress,” the leader said.

Sheila Dikshit was appointed as the Governor of Kerala after party’s crushing defeat in last Assembly elections. Former Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal had defeated Dikshit with a huge margin of votes.