Six days after the Delhi Lokayukta sent his recommendation for ouster of PWD minister Raj Kumar Chouhan from the council of ministers to the President, chief minister Sheila Dikshit was called by the Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday to give explanation on the issue.
It has been learnt that though the party high command would like to drop Mr Chouhan from the Delhi Cabinet, the decision would be taken after going through various issues involved, including the legal aspects. “The chief minister briefed Mrs Gandhi on the issue of the Lokayukta recommendation. She had gone with all the documents. The Lokayukta has given three months’ time for action to be taken against the minister,” sources revealed.
Mr Chouhan is considered close to the chief minister and was even rewarded in the recent reshuffle of the Cabinet portfolios with high profile department of urban development. “It’s to be seen if a minister can be punished for making a phone call to an official on the request of people coming to meet him,” stated a senior Delhi Congress leader.
However, a section of the Congress leaders maintain that given the precedence of the sacking of Suresh Kalmadi and former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan, the party high command might not be lenient with the Delhi minister against whom the Lokayukta has already made recommendation for ouster. They maintained that the Delhi Lokayukta recommendation is serious enough not to be ignored.
Mr Chouahn had been charged to pressurise tax officials in a move not to carry out raids against a resort in South Delhi area, which had been facing tax evasion charges.
Mr Chouhan had written a letter to lieutenant governor Tejendra Khanna to defend his position where he reportedly mentioned that “as a public representative, he gets lots of calls from people requesting for favours and he only responded to such a call”.
However, the Opposition BJP is gunning for the head of the minister and has been staging protests in the capital. The Opposition BJP is also gearing up to turn the heat on the ruling Congress.