Cong tightens grip, BJP beats retreat

For the first time since 1989, the Congress is set to control all three-tiers of administration in the city ? MCD, Delhi government and the centre.

Updated on: May 14, 2004, 14:04:00 IST

PTI | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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For the first time since 1989, the Congress is set to control all three-tiers of administration in the city — MCD, Delhi government and the centre.

Its 6-1 victory in the city's Lok Sabha seats meant the BJP had been dealt another blow barely six months after it lost the assembly elections.

Party leaders said that with a Congress government at the Centre, wrangling over who's to blame for what will be put to an end. Issues like delay in allocation of land for major projects, including relocation of industries, and law and order can get smoother.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said, “Now that the Centre and Delhi governments will not be at loggerheads, I want to tackle issues like unauthorised colonies, full statehood, relocation of industries and bringing land under the city administration".

On the statehood issue, both the Congress and the BJP had agreed to a basic model which will see Delhi government control land and exercise some power over Delhi Police.

But the first anticipated change if a Congress-led government comes to power at the Centre is that of the Lieutenant-Governor. The L-G is a political appointee who wields considerable power since crucial areas are under the Centre’s jurisdiction.

The party's strong showing on Thursday had a lot to do with an increase in vote share. It increased from 52 per cent in the assembly elections to about 55 per cent.

From the 46 seats it won in the December elections, the Congress led in 54 segments.

The major gains were in Outer Delhi where Congress was ahead in 18 segments out of 21. Of the 20 in East, Congress led in 18. In Karol Bagh, the Congress got more votes in all segments.

Only in south Delhi did the Congress face some problems.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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