In case you didn't know, New Delhi came first in the Clean Cities International Partner of the Year Programme.

Which is nice. What isn't is the way Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dixit is making political mileage out of it.

The way she puts it, you would think it was all her doing. And what precisely was her contribution?

To quote her, she brought to "fruition a multi-stakeholder, progressive and successful compressed natural gas transport programme."

If truth be told, the credit goes not to Dixit, and not to the central government either.

It was the Supreme Court, which ensured the polluting diesel vehicles converted to CNG -- and that, in the face of stiff opposition from the Dixit government.

Don't believe that? All you need is look at the newspapers of the last three years. You will see the Court has had to 'sternly reprimand' the Delhi government many times for its lackadaisical attitude. And now Dixit wants credit for Clean Delhi!

Oh, well, with politicians that's how it goes: heads I win, tails you lose.

Goel turns author

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Labour Vijay Goel is one of those persons who can be called 'live-wire' -- always making friends, influencing people, getting a move on life.

He showed his presence of mind recently, turning a chance meeting with Delhi publisher Pramod Kapur into an opportunity for a pictorial book on Old Delhi's havelis, many of which are part of his constituency, Chandini Chowk.

The  book will be released by the prime minister later this year. Besides bringing to life a bygone era, it is expected to burnish Goel's image as a multifaceted personality in time for the next election.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh