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Swaraj admits Delhi is unhappy with BJP

Chief Minister Sushma Swaraj today admitted that the people of Delhi had become disillusioned with the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the past six months owing to power and water shortages, rising prices, and deteriorating law-and-order.

But most of these are not the fault of the Delhi government, she said. Law and order is not under its jurisdiction, and rising prices, especially of commodities like onions, are a nation-wide phenomenon.

Agreeing that the power situation in the summer months was 'quite bad', Swaraj said this was because of higher demand and snags in the distribution system.

Answering questions at a 'face the media' programme at the Press Club of India in New Delhi, Swaraj said that within a week of assuming office on October 12, she had persuaded the Centre to put onion imports on open general licence and make them duty-free.

The first consignment landed in the national capital today and from tomorrow the government would make 400 tonnes of onions available every day at outlets in each of the 70 assembly constituencies. These onions will be sold at Rs 10 per kilo, she said.

Setting at rest speculation about her involvement with Delhi politics, Swaraj said she would contest the assembly election next month and assume the post of chief minister after her party returned to power.

Asked if she is holding on to her seat in the Lok Sabha as south Delhi's representative because she is unsure of the BJP's victory in the assembly, Swaraj said she had fulfilled her constitutional obligation by quitting the Union Cabinet. "There is no need to do what is unnecessary," she said.

Admitting that she had been reluctant to accept the chief minister's post, Swaraj said this was because she did not want to replace a colleague. "But now that I have assumed office, you will see no lack of will or willpower," she added.

Listing the polio-eradication programme, establishment of another university, highest labour wages, and good financial management as some of the achievements of the state government, Swaraj said she would go to the people with the good work done in the past five years by her predecessors, Madan Lal Khurana and Sahib Singh Verma.

She disagreed that she was an 'outsider' who had been 'imposed' on Delhi, sidelining grassroots workers and popular leaders. The local leaders were consulted, she said, and the willingness of candidates to contest under a particular leader indicated that they were willing to accept him or her as chief minister.

The BJP high command felt it was better to go to the public with a new face and new projections for the future, Swaraj said.

Regarding Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's offer to Sahib Singh to join the Union government and his temporary refusal, Swaraj said any allegations of deal-making were baseless. "We should appreciate Mr Sahib Singh's gesture in the right spirit and not belittle it," she added.

Asked about the discontent among the Punjabi and Vaish communities, Swaraj claimed the BJP does not function along caste lines. In reply to another question, she said the state government was 'actively considering' the grant of second-language status to Punjabi.

UNI

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