NEW DELHI: It was the first week of November, 1998. While the Delhi government was still reeling under the onion crisis, newly appointed chief minister Sushma Swaraj had another tough task at hand; the national capital was staring at a salt shortage. She had hardly completed a month in office.
“Though a rumour, salt shortage was looming large over the city. The government was on the back foot following the onion crunch. But Swaraj decided to lead from the front. She decided to crack down on godowns in north Delhi after the government received reports of hoarding,” said MS Sehrawat, media adviser, New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), who was attached to then civil supplies minister Poornima Sethi, as an information officer. Swaraj accompanied Sethi and other officials, who raided warehouses in Samaypur Badli and Alipur areas of north Delhi.
The raids continued for nearly five hours, Sehrawat said. “She was an able administrator and a confident politician. However, she couldn’t do much as she had just three months,” he added.
On October 12, 1998, Swaraj replaced Sahib Singh Verma, who had to step down in wake of the skyrocketing prices of onion. She remained at the helm just for 52 days.
She had resigned from the Union cabinet to take oath as Delhi’s first woman CM.
Omesh Sehgal, then chief secretary, echoed the sentiment, adding Swaraj was a fighter and a quick learner. “When she took over, the city was grappling with onion and power shortage. Even though she was not getting any support from her party colleagues, she left no stone unturned to ease the pain of the common man. She set up a task force to tackle the issue (onion). She fought really hard but ultimately, it (onion price surge and power shortage) cost BJP the government,” Sehgal recalled.