Nistula Hebbar: I don't want to be just an MP

BACKSTAGE

For those who know Ajay Maken, his transition from a high-profile minister and Delhi Assembly Speaker to just another first time MP in the Lok Sabha, which is already over-populated by heirs of powerful political clans, has not been easy or even welcome.

On Wednesday, he asked for the resignation of his one-time mentor Sheila Dikshit from the post of Delhi's chief minister, and disowned the agreement on privatisation of power in Delhi, of which he was the architect.

Maken, a meticulous man by nature, cannot forgive Dikshit for upsetting his carefully laid plans for his career. It was no secret that if there was one job that he was aiming for, after he became Delhi Assembly Speaker in 2003, it was Dikshit's. The reason, many say, for his virulent opposition to her now.

Maken was born in a political family. His uncle was the late Lalit Maken who, along with his wife Geetanjali, had been gunned down by extremists in 1985.

Maken was then in Hansraj College, a student of Chemistry. His family, unwilling to let go of a political legacy asked him to stake a claim to it. At first unwilling, Maken contested and won the Delhi University Students Union elections in 1985-86.

From then on Maken went from strength to strength, becoming an MLA in Delhi in 1993. When Dikshit was appointed Delhi Congress chief, and later chief minister of the state, he threw in his lot with her and became her parliamnetary secretary in 1998 and later minister in her government. Known as one of the few performing ministers in Dikshit's government he brokered the unbundling of the Delhi Vidyut Board.

His falling out with Dikshit happened when he was asked to fight NDA minister Jagmohan from the New Delhi constituency in 2004. Not only was Jagmohan tough to beat, Maken had no wish to be one among 545 MPs, especially when he had so carefully charted out his future in Delhi politics. He expected Dikshit to bail him out, she reportedly only pointed out the suitability of his candidature to Sonia Gandhi.

Maken won, but never forgave Dikshit for fielding her son from the surer seat of East Delhi. Dikshit's enemies in the All India Congress Committee (AICC) lost no opportunity in fostering this dislike and sense of betrayal into the battle royale that it has become.

Maken and Dikshit's son Sandeep Dikshit often sit together in the Lok Sabha, but after Wednesday's Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee meeting where Maken asked Diskhit to resign over the power crisis in Delhi, it could turn out to be a thing of the past.