``Yes, she thinks that Delhi's condition has worsened over the years. She strongly feels that the government in Delhi needs to set things right,'' Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said, in an exclusive interview to Express Newsline, all the while blaming Delhi's woes on five years of BJP rule.

But the All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Sonia Gandhi has reasons to keep an eye on the state government here. She is said to be perturbed that the national Capital is far from the modern city her mother-in-law and then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, had tried to project during the Asiad. Instead, dogged by endless crises and an ever-burgeoning population, Delhi seems to be bursting at its seams.

Says Dikshit, who has been churning out new policies ever since she took oath: ``Well, Soniaji personally reviews the performance of the governments in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Especially Delhi's. The party has won the elections in all three states with a convincing majority but she feels how the state government performs is going to count in the coming general elections.''

On her way to the Old Secretariat, Dikshit calls up the Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) chairman Virendra Singh on her cellphone: ``We need to maintain a human face. We should not get a pro-rich image.'' And taking on a pro-poor image is also part of Sonia Gandhi's agenda. ``She is categorical that we need to take concrete steps for the poor in Delhi. She is also deeply concerned for the youth in the city and wants us to take up programmes supporting the youth and the poor. We go to consult her quite regularly,'' Dikshit says, adding that her government will soon be setting up a Commission for Minorities and one for women.

Talking of the problems facing her government, Dikshit says: ``We are in the process of putting governance back on the rails. For five years, there has been a lack of governance. No decisions have been taken. As a result, wherever we turn it is utter chaos. We have to clean up the act.''

But has her government taken any concrete steps to bring back order? ``We brought down the vegetable prices within days. It was not just the weather. Their own economic advisor Mohan Guruswamy is saying that the onion crisis was mishandled. The prices shot up precisely because of the mishandling.''Dikshit, who likes to take credit for the parleys with the Himachal Pradesh Government to buy power, cannot quite explain why she soft-peddled the Delhi Vidyut.

Board (DVB) restructuring plan. ``In the long run, we will have to privatise the power sector. The White Paper does highlight the areas of deficiencies and spells out the short term and long term remedies to be taken up by the DVB. It would have been unfair to dismiss an existing organisation before giving it a chance,'' says Dikshit.

And again she blames the BJP. ``When the Congress was in power in Delhi, electricity theft was at 17-20 per cent. But in the past five years it has gone up to 45-50 per cent! But we hope to cut it down to 20 per cent by April. We're augmenting the existing cables as well.''

Dikshit also feels hamstrung working in the archaic set-up of the Old Secretariat which is yet to see a computer monitor. And she already has a headache about the summer. Which is not going to be easy if she fails to win over the Haryana Chief Minister Bansi Lal to quench Delhi's thirst.

``Water is the problem area. Delhi is so entirely dependent on neighbouring states fro everything. That's why I am so keen for the Union Government to accept the concept of the National Capital Territory. Delhi is everybody's -- that is the nation's responsibility!''