Just as Dikshit had predicted on Saturday, the internal wrangling on the Speaker's post was over by this morning. The papers were filed at the House Secretary P.N. Gupta's office at 10.25 am, which was supposed to be an auspicious moment as per the celestial calender. For the grand old man of DPCC, it is was a coup of sorts getting Bandhu to amicably propose his name.And Dikshit too scored a point by winning over one of the key old-timers whowere left out of her Cabinet.

A beaming Singh said, ``I really don't want to say anything before the CLP elects me tomorrow. But I am definitely very happy.'' In a jovial mood, he denied that there had been any internal fight in the DPCC over the Speaker's post.

Prem Singh, who joined DPCC way back in 1948, is known more for not losing a single election from his constituency than his expertise on running the House. Another veteran, S.C. Vats' name was in circulation for the Speaker's post for his legal-constitutional acumen.

Singh, however, was all geared up. He was twice DPCC president in 1988 and again in 1997. And whether there was a Congress wave or not, the electorate of Dr Ambedkar Nagar, which is a reserved constituency, has always chosen Prem Singh. Even after the '84 riots and even when the BJP was ruling the roost. Prem Singh, in fact, has made history by winning elections from the Ambedkar Nagar constituency since 1958 that is from Jawaharlal Nehru's time. This was his eighth election.

``The Congress has never trailed in my constituency. I never had a single paid worker, did not ever distribute a single bottle free liqour to the voter. And I have never left the village I was born in,'' Prem Singh said.

Born in 1932 in the south Delhi village of Lado Sarai, Prem Singh first won an election 1958. He was the youngest elected member of the Delhi Municipal Corporation. Since then he has contested eight elections in a row. Between 1983 and 1990, he was the executive councillor (development) and claims to have built all those flyovers which came up during the Asiad Games that changed the face of the Capita.