With about a year to go for the Delhi Assembly elections, the Congress and the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) are vying with each other fiercely to take the credit for the Metro Rail.
Even the inauguration of a trial run of the transport system, which is going to be the answer to the city's transport problems, has become subject to hot contest. The BJP has announced that it will invite Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani to inaugurate the Metro Rail on September 17, because the project was "started when the BJP was in power in Delhi".
However, the Congress scoffs at the suggestion and says the formal inauguration of the system should be done by the President of India, because the project "belongs to the people of Delhi", not to any political party.
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Delhi transport minister Ajay Maken said: "Is this justice? For three years, we're the ones who have diverted valuable resources from other projects in Delhi to make funds available for the Delhi Metro. Now, the railway minister wants to survey the project though it has nothing to do with the railway ministry, the urban development ministry is laying claims to it. We are the ones who have had to bear the financial and political brunt of rehabilitating those whose land were used for the construction of the Metro. And it is Madanlal Khurana who wants to take the credit for it."
The BJP's Delhi unit, which had a disastrous showing in the municipal elections in Delhi a few months ago, had clearly decided it needed a campaign slogan to get back to power in the city. Delhi's Lieutenant Governor, Vijay Kapoor, is said to have proposed that the Deputy Prime Minister inaugurate the trial run with the Prime Minister unveiling the Metro, when it is ready. This refrain was taken up by the party.
However, the Congress says the project belongs to the state and not to the Centre because it is the state government that has funded it (15 per cent) from out of badly needed resources. The Centre's contribution also 15 per cent, is small in view of the kitty of resources available to it.
Even the issue of appointing a general manager in charge of operations has taken a state-versus-Centre turn. The Centre asserted its right to appoint one, while the state says the Metro does not come under the Centre's jurisdiction but belongs to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), an autonomous corporation.
Clearly, the Metro has become a metaphor for a government that works. With elections around the corner, it has also become the symbol of fiercely competitive politics.