Dikshit gets ministers to resign, reshuffle soon

NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit set in motion her own 'Kamaraj Plan' by asking all six of her Cabinet ministers, most of whom she had retained in the third term, to quit. Dikshit is likely to reconstitute the Cabinet on Wednesday. This is the first time in her third term that Dikshit would be reshuffling her ministry. When she rode to power in 2008, she replaced Health Minister Yoganand Shastri with first-time minister Kiran Walia. Shastri, another trusted old-timer, was moved out as Delhi Assembly Speaker.

This is the first time that Dikshit has employed the unique style of reshuffling. Delhi political circles were abuzz with many conspiracy theories as strategists compared the modus operandi with the Kamaraj Plan. Veteran Congress leader K Kamaraj had formulated his plan in 1963 wherein all old-timers quit the Nehru Government and pledged to revitalise the party. Senior Delhi Congress leaders pointed out that this could be another way to ease out some ministers who had serious run-ins with Dikshit over the past few months.

Dikshit, who can have in all only six ministers in the Cabinet, met Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her political secretary Ahmed Patel on Tuesday. Sources said that she got the go-ahead from Gandhi for the Cabinet reconstitution. Dikshit held meetings with each of her six ministers till late on Tuesday night.