In their efforts to please the newly-elected All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Sonia Gandhi, partymen are erecting hoardings near the AICC office at Akbar road faster than the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) can pull them down. The latest addition to the list of hoardings is one which shows Sonia Gandhi with her late husband, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Messages asking her to strengthen the party are all pervasive and in clear violation of the Supreme Court (SC) order. The Apex Court order seems to have succeeded only in bringing down the Aishwarya Rais and Madhu Sapres from the Capital's landscape.

NDMC spokesman Madan Thapliyal conceded that such hoardings in public places were a violation of the Apex Court order. ``In fact we arevigorously enforcing the Court order. In the NDMC areas we have not only removed the hoardings but have also removed the iron structures on which the hoardings are installed,'' Thapliyal told The Indian Express.

An NDMC enforcement wing official requesting anonymity said they kept a keen watch outside the Congress office especially since Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) lives just opposite the AICC headquarters. Air Chief Marshal SK Sareen has Z plus category security and such a hoarding apart from being a violation of the Court order is also a security hazard, he said.

``Therefore, we keep removing the hoardings. But in their zeal to be noticed by the party president and for instant publicity, the Congressmen come at night with labourers, dig eight holes, install 12 to 15 feet high bamboo poles and nail a hoarding. In fact they are not even safe. We tell our men to be very cautious while removing them so that no one gets hurt. In case of swift winds or rains, these flimsy hoardings could fall,injuring people,'' he added.

Explaining why hoardings on AIDS prevention, compulsory saving schemes etc. were still being allowed, an official of the NDMC said that only public information hoardings were allowed and even they should not in any way divert the attention of motorists. ``There is no way that the hoardings of Sonia Gandhi can be put in this category,'' he said. An AICC member told The Indian Express that the hoarding was the last thing on their mind. ``If they violate the Supreme Court order then we will remove them or probably the NDMC should take care of it. There are thousands of Congressmen. How can you stop them from showering their love and affection on Soniaji, a person they look up to,'' he said.

Though SS Rao, Director Enforcement (NDMC) was not available for comments, another official said that the hoardings would be removed immediately.