Delhi land scam: Sonia steps in to stop infighting in party unit

It was a day of dramatic developments for the Congress government in Delhi. The alleged kingpin of a multi-crore property scam, Ashok Malhotra, famous for his 50 cars with VIP number plates, surrendered before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the office of a Noida-based TV channel.

This came as the Delhi Cabinet decided to stop issuing VIP vehicle registration numbers in the light of the alleged involvement of some Congress MLAs and members of the chief minister's staff in recommending Malhotra for these numbers.

More importantly, Congress President Sonia Gandhi met three ministers in the Delhi government, Finance Minister AK Walia, Transport Minister Haroon Yousuf and Education Minister Arvinder Lovely, to put a lid on the fighting that has broken out in the party over this scam.

The first shot was fired by the faction supporting Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. The faction alleged that the cars at Malhotra's residence had been acquired to bribe MLAs to topple the chief minister.

Delhi MPs Jagdish Tytler and Ajay Maken and DPCC chief Ram Babu Sharma were mentioned as those who "persuaded" Malhotra to carry out this exercise.

The chief minister alleged there was a political conspiracy to discredit her by involving her staff in the scam. Needless to say, the Congress high command was not amused by this open acknowledgement of how bad things were in the party's Delhi unit.

According to sources in the Congress, Gandhi and AICC General Secretary in charge of Delhi, Ashok Gehlot, took senior leaders in the Delhi Congress and ministers in the Delhi government to task.

"The scam, related to allotment of slum property to Malhotra, occurred when the NDA was in power at the Centre and ran the urban development ministry. Instead of focusing on that, the party leaders have been blaming each other," said a senior Congress leader.

The Congress is unlikely to take any action against either Dikshit or other MLAs and ministers in the party as it will mean acknowledgement of guilt. "Most probably, with over a year-and-a-half left before Delhi goes to polls, Dikshit may be co-opted into the Union Cabinet after the Monsoon session," said a source in Congress.

Malhotra denied any political angle to his acquisition of cars and said he owned "only" 17 cars and not 50 as claimed by the CBI.

"It is my hobby to buy cars and get VIP numbers. What's wrong with this?," he told the TV channel in whose office he surrendered.