This time round in the Delhi Assembly, battle lines are drawn not just between the ruling Congress and the Opposition BJP, but also between the men and women of the Treasury benches.

Under pressure from the ladies of the House, the Congress has decided to revise the seating arrangement in the Assembly either by the middle of this session or by the next session.

Women MLAs's discomfiture with the company they keep is the reason behind the division of the House on gender lines.

The Congress's women MLAs (the BJP has none) are Tajdar Babbar, Kiran Choudhary, Anjali Rai, Kiran Walia, Susheela Jai Kishan, Darshana Ram Kumar and Meira Bharadwaj. Another woman, Social Welfare Minister Krishna Tirath, does not figure in the revised plan of seating becasue her place among the Cabient benches is fixed.

According to sources in Old Secretariat, the revison of the seating plan may be done within this session itself. Presently, the seating is based on members' relative seniority.

The move began just before the Assembly's Budget Session on March 22, when the former MLA from Sultanpuri, Jai Kishen, protested that his wife and the present MLA from the area, Susheela Devi, should be seated next to another woman.

She presently occupies the seat between the MLA from Bhalaswa Jehangirpuri, Zile Singh Chauhan, and Patparganj MLA Amrish Gautam. ``I pointed out that my wife should be sitting with another lady. As is usually the case, women can operate better when they sit with other women,'' the worried husband says.

Jai Kishen made the suggestion in confidence to Dikshit at a Congress Legislative Party meeting and now says: ``Sheilaji agreed with me that it would be better if the seating is revised.''

While it has not yet been decided where the women would want to sit, it is being speculated that they may ask for the benches next to Dikshit herself.

MLA from Paharganj and president of Delhi Mahila Congrss, Anjali Rai, is all for the change because she believes it's time women get the respect they deserve for graduating to the Assembly. ``Because women have come to power in such a large number, we would get due respect if we were accommodated in the front rows of the Assembly,'' she says. The Ram Nagar MLA, Darshana Ram Kumar, wants the seating plan changed for another reason: ``Some senior MLA should sit with us first-time MLAs. We need someone to speak on our behalf.'' The MLA now sits with Charan Singh Kandera and Ramesh Kumar, and would prefer to sit with Tajdar Babbar.

While Delhi Cantonment MLA Kiran Choudhary has no problems sitting with her male colleagues, Mandwali MLA Meira Bharadwaj does not mind it either way.