Sheila Dikshit, Delhi’s chief minister, though voted by the people of Delhi and thus accountable to them, does not have powers over the police, land and the local council.

And she does not like this one bit.

Her deep seated desire to have her hands on the steering wheel of her state came to fore once again on Friday when she said the legitimate powers of the city government are being "eroded, diluted, encroached or vetoed''.

While arguing in favour of the special status statehood, Dikshit said, the office of lieutenant governor (LG) and the Home ministry are obstacle to smooth governance she wants to provide to the city.

Though Dikshit has been demanding special status statehood for a long time, it was LG's rejection of the Delhi cabinet's decision to raise circle rates that flared up the issue once again.

Referring to the impasse on circle rates issue, Dikshit said that this logjam is resulting in a loss of Rs 3 crore daily in city government's revenue. "The question today is who will compensate for this loss?'' she added.

The chief minister later told the media that she wanted to clarify that "her objections were not against any person but against the system which is in place resulting in obstacles in our way. It is affecting our performance''.

CM also said, "Whenever there have been differences we have discussed and talked to resolve things. But this time a cabinet decision had been vetoed using the powers under the 2002 order. But one has to recognise the fact that we are an elected government with legitimate powers.''

The opposition BJP on Friday registered a complaint against the chief minister Sheila Dikshit in the assembly for “contempt of house” and “breach of privilege”. Quoting the Dikshit’s remarks against LG Tejendra Khanna for special statehood for Delhi, BJP said Dikshit crossed the lines of constitutional propriety.

SPECIAL STATUS STATEHOOD FOR DELHI

At present, in Delhi, the police and MCD are under Union Home Ministry while the control of land is with Delhi Development Authority (DDA) which comes under the Union Urban Development Ministry.

A greater freedom to work is what Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has been demanding over the years.

The demand for full statehood had been part of the Delhi congress manifesto during elections of 1998 and 2003. The demand changed to special status for the capital, during 2008 elections, in which they demanded the police, MCD and land under the state government's jurisdiction.