JAGDISH Tytler today managed to make a comeback to the Centre with a minister of state with independent charge. It has been a long journey in which he was dogged by allegations of involvement in the Sikh riots but convincingly beat Vijay Goel in Sadar, a constituency where he had been defeated by Khurana in 1999.
He is known to be vocal against Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit who has managed to get her son, Sandeep Dikshit, and protege Ajay Maken into Lok Sabha.
Ironically, Maken, who defeated Union Minister for Tourism and Culture Jagmohan, by 12,784 votes, didn’t get the call. He was being tipped for a berth.
Lawyer Kapil Sibal, who made BJP’s Smriti Z Irrani run from Chandni Chowk, was sure to be inducted, being a legal brain and a vocal spokesperson for the party.
For 90-year-old H K Sibal and 85-year-old Kailash Rani Sibal, who had flown down this afternoon from Chandigarh to be present when their son was sworn in as a minister, it was all too overwhelming. Mujjhe sab kuch mil gaya said Sibal’s mother, Kailash Rani, finally.
Dressed in a white starched kurta, Sibal looked at ease only when the call came through but added he was not keen on the Law portfolio. He too was sworn in as minister of state with independent charge. He said he would have to give up his practise as a lawyer.
With bureaucrats in the family, the happiness was clearly understated. Trying to ensure that things moved smoothly was elder son Amit. Sibal’s elder sister, Asha Nanda, said she was very proud of her ‘‘little brother’’. Along with Sibal’s brother, former Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal, were his two other brothers from Chandigarh.
Meanwhile, Maken spent a quiet Saturday. The youngest Speaker from Delhi assembly took it sportingly: ‘‘The ministership would have been a bonus, my aim was only winning from the tough New Delhi seat.’’
Maken, 40, might be putting up a brave front but sources say he is upset over his exclusion. Some consider this a good period for him to settle down on the national scene though some partymen voiced doubts if Sheila Dikshit fully backed him or not. ‘‘Dikshit has not been a gainer though the party tasted victory riding high on the pro-incumbency wave,’’ a Delhi Congress leader said.