“My successor will be decided by the Delhi government. This may not be my mistake but as the head of the organisation I have to take responsibility and I think it is right to resign.”

Through the hours between Sreedharan’s press conference and Dikshit’s statement, DMRC officials speculated on the fate of Metro projects should their boss leave, with a consensus emerging that they would almost certainly suffer. The Indraprastha-Noida line is slated to open in August, the Inderlok- Mundka line in November and the Yamuna Bank-Anand Vihar line in December.

Sreedharan, who put DMRC on the world map — Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ireland, Syria and Vietnam have sought the corporation’s expertise — is associated with several other Metro projects in the country, including the Mumbai Metro, the high-speed railway link from Bangalore’s city centre to the airport, and Kolkata’s new Metro project.

He is also a member of the working group on urban transport including mass rapid transport systems for the 11th Five Year Plan under the urban development ministry. He was earlier on a high-profile panel that helped a Committee of Secretaries look into the privatization of Delhi and Mumbai airports.