AAP vs Congress: Next face-off over CWG, Jal Board 'scams'?

NEW DELHI: Now that the confrontation between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and the Centre over two Delhi police SHOs has been defused, what's next? According to AAP sources, the state government's focus will now be on irregularities in the Commonwealth Games and Delhi Jal Board. And in both the cases, the trail could lead up to the door of former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit and ex PWD minister Rajkumar Chauhan.

In at least two CWG cases - acquisition of potted plants and street-lighting - the buck stops with Dikshit. According to the CAG, Dikshit had approved a proposal to acquire potted plants at the cost of Rs 24 crore despite objections from the police on security grounds. The pots were acquired (at the cost of Rs 44-Rs 65 per plant) instead of being created in departmental nurseries. Eventually, they were not used at the Games because of police objections.

The street-lighting upgradation project was tendered at the cost of Rs 286 crore. CAG has observed that Dikshit decided on acquiring imported luminaries instead of indigenous ones without any cost-benefit analysis or a technical note pointing to their superiority. The imported luminaries cost an additional Rs 31.07 crore despite their technical specifications being the same as the indigenous ones. The auditors also found that the imported luminaries (Rs 25,704 to Rs 32,000 per unit) were procured at a price higher than the actual invoice price.

Meantime, the government is planning to convene the assembly for a session in early February to pass its version of the Lokpal Bill. Whether it is able to do so is uncertain as AAP doesn't have a majority in the House. So this might end up as posturing.

But the action of CWG and DJB will come with bite. Since it will end up targeting a senior leader like Dikshit, the Congress party is bound to feel discomfited. And on AAP's part, it will set at rest all the talk about AAP being soft on Congress now that it had come to office with its unconditional support.