Mrs Gandhi patented the art of cutting to size any Congress chieftain who became too powerful or popular. The other Mrs Gandhi has learnt that lesson well, as she showed when she clipped Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's political wings last week. It was, in retrospect, a script that could only have one ending. Dissidence in the Congress is not just inherent, it is encouraged, and Dikshit should have known that by now. By storming out of a Delhi Congress executive meet, she intended to send a message to the rebels that she was in no mood to take dissidence lying down. And, by forcing the issue into the open, she was ready for a head-on confrontation. Unfortunately for the charismatic chief minister, so was her mentor at 10 Janpath. Instead of meeting Dikshit immediately after the storm broke, the Congress president asked her to go through the proper channels-via the general secretary in charge of Delhi, Ashok Gehlot. Dikshit was one of the few chief ministers who enjoyed direct access to Madam.

PICTURE SPEAK

NOT SO CLOSE: Dikshit's (left) direct access to Sonia seems to be blocked

Dikshit has been let off with a reprieve. She was lucky. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh faced similar flak on the Sutlej-Yamuna Link issue last July. His request for an appointment with Sonia was put on hold for months. Dikshit didn't have to wait longer than a week. But she will perforce have to change her style of functioning and, in political terms, sup with those she considers her enemies, the most prominent being Ram Babu Sharma, the state PCC president and dissident-in-chief. Sonia was equally enraged at his open defiance and got him to agree to ensure that the rebel camp will not go public with the internal matters of the party. The two have agreed to set up a coordination committee between the Government and the party. "Everything is all right now," says Gehlot.

But the truce could be temporary considering the deep divide between the two camps. According to the chief minister's camp, matters came to a head when speaker after speaker criticised Dikshit's way of functioning. It was, however, not so much the message but the medium. The meeting was organised under a tent on the DPCCc office grounds. The speakers were given mikes so that the criticism was audible to the media gathered outside. This is what triggered the walkout. Sharma claims innocence. "These meetings are always held in a pandal outside," he says. But this is not always the case. When Kamal Nath was the general secretary in charge of Delhi, the executive meetings were held behind closed doors in the Parliament annexe. As a Congress worker quips, "Pandals are not Nath's style." Agrees Dharamvir Yadav, senior vice-president in the PCC, "There is a way to raise these topics. Behind closed doors."

NOT THE CHIEF MINISTER'S MEN

ASHOK GEHLOT CONGRESS GENERAL SECRETARY In charge of Delhi, resents Dikshit's direct access to Sonia. JAGDISH TYTLER UNION MINISTER FOR NRI AFFAIRS The Delhi MP wants Dikshit's job, a vocal critic of her. RAM BABU SHARMA DPCC CHIEF Calls Dikshit didi but was brought in to act as a foil to the chief minister. AJAY MAKEN MP One-time protege of Dikshit-turned-contender to the throne; an Ahmed Patel man.

What is lost in all the high drama are the issues that sparked off the confrontation. The legislators were upset at the rising power and water tariffs and their impact on their vote bank during a long summer. Hence the public distancing from some of Dikshit's more radical reforms. They also castigated the chief minister for implementing VAT, something that she found slightly unfair considering that vat was a Government of India recommendation and not a state decision. Instead of the issues, what ended up centrestage were bruised egos. "Will the prime minister walk out of a Congress Working Committee?" asked a party MP.

After the walkout, AICC General Secretary Janardhan Dwivedi told the PCC, "The party does not belong to the Government. The Government belongs to the party." Union Minister and MP from Delhi Jagdish Tytler took the opportunity to point out that the recent elections were won because of Sonia. Dikshit has little support from the AICC set-up. Her access to Sonia is resented by many within the party. In her six years as chief minister, she has had six general secretaries in charge of Delhi, including Gehlot. While she had a turf war with Ahmed Patel and Nath, her equation with Ghulam Nabi Azad, Oscar Fernandes and Madhavrao Scindia had been smooth. Her detractors talk of her autocratic style of functioning, her rushing to the media with her "hurt and anguish" instead of patiently awaiting summons from 10 Janpath. They also hold her responsible for an independent survey that evaluated the first 500 days of Dikshit's second term in office, giving her a popularity rating of 59 per cent.

What her rivals are targeting is Dikshit's strongest point: her image. Regardless of Tytler's claims, it was not Sonia's charm alone that won Delhi for the party the second time, after having lost Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The Congress won six of the seven seats in the Lok Sabha polls too. Dikshit's grandmotherly image has worked well with the capital's middle-class vote bank.

After Sonia's intervention, Sharma says Dikshit is "like my older sister". Dikshit too told India Today, "My intention was never to hurt or insult anyone." But the postscript is equally clear: the road from the chief minister's residence at 3 Motilal Nehru Marg to 10 Janpath is not the shortcut it used to be.

-with Manoj Verma

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