Power politics

ON August 26, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit ruled out at a media conference the possibility of a rollback of the power tariff increases. A week later, the government announced a complete rollback of the hike announced on July 7. While the Chief Minister claimed to have accepted the views of the public and acted accordingly, many people feel that power struggles within the Congress were the real reason for the change of mind.

A former Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) official said: "What is surprising is that the issue acquired such massive proportions. After all, this isn't the first time that power tariffs have been raised." According to DVB tariff orders, the government raised the domestic power tariffs by 48 per cent in the 0-100 units category in 1991 - from 27 paisa a unit to 40 paisa a unit - by 50 per cent in 1993 and by another 66.67 per cent in 1997. This was despite dismal levels of consumer satisfaction. Citizen groups did protest, but not on the scale that was observed this year.

Apparently, the events of the last few weeks indicate that the Chief Minister has lost the support of her party on the issue. Sheila Dixit has been under pressure from several camps in the party for a while now, particularly from those led by Members of Parliament Ajay Maken and Jagdish Tytler. For the dissidents, the power issue serves two vital purposes - it weakens Sheila Dixit while consolidating their own political positions.

The release of the report of the Nanavati Commission, which inquired into the anti-Sikh riots of 1984, ensured that the pressure from Tytler eased off, but the Maken camp is still strong. (The report says that there is credible evidence to proceed against Tytler for allegedly instigating attacks on Sikhs.) Ajay Maken made public statements asking for a review of the privatisation process. Informed sources suggest that he demanded the Chief Minister's resignation on the grounds that she "mis-managed" the crisis.

Admitting that the power issue had weakened the hand of the Chief Minister, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Rambabu Sharma told Frontline that the withdrawal of the tariff hike was an issue that the Congress legislators were adamant on. Sharma refused to answer questions on the Maken-Sheila Dixit turf war, choosing instead to state that "a party goes into elections, a government doesn't".