Monday, Oct 18, 2004
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Advts: Classifieds | Employment | New Delhi
By Sujay Mehdudia
NEW DELHI, OCT. 17. The Congress had often accused the Bharatiya Janata Party Members of Parliament from Delhi of not watching and protecting the interests of Delhi and its people inside and outside Parliament. The same issues have now started haunting the Congress Members of Parliament from the Capital for having turned a blind eye to the issues of grant of Statehood, regularisation of unauthorised colonies and closure of thousands of industrial units in the city. In the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress MPs, prominent among them Union Ministers, Jagdish Tytler and Kapil Sibal, Ajay Maken, Sajjan Kumar and Sandeep Dikshit had made tall promises of protecting the interests of Delhiites and promised to raise their problems and issues affecting them effectively inside and outside Parliament. However, the recent turn of events clearly suggest that the Congress MPs are shying away from taking up important matters pertaining to Delhi. "The Congress Parliamentarians from Delhi are not doing enough for their people. They had made tall promises on various fronts, but when the time came, they have maintained silence,'' a senior party leader remarked. What has angered the various sections is that even the most vocal of the Members of Parliament have gone into hibernation. For instance, Mr. Sajjan Kumar had raised a hue and cry over the imposition of development charges on unauthorised colonies by the previous NDA Government. He had even charged his rival and former Union Minister, Sahib Singh Verma, with having compromised with the interests of lakhs of residents of these colonies and made this an election issue. At an election rally in Najafgarh, Mr. Kumar had stated that nothing short of the Indira Gandhi's 1976-77 policy for regularisation of unauthorised colonies would be acceptable to the Congress party. However, now that the Sheila Dikshit Government and the United Progressive Alliance Government are bracing up for imposition of such development charges, Mr. Kumar has remained silent on the issue. His failure to react on such an important issue is likely to make a dent in his standing among the people of his Outer Delhi constituency, political observers feel. Similarly, on the issue of closure of industrial units in Delhi, all the Members of Parliament have remained silent and failed to raise the issue of rendering lakhs of industrial workers and entrepreneurs unemployed. These representatives, except for Mr. Kumar, have not even uttered a word on the closure of industries and have gone with the decision of the Delhi Government. They have failed to take up the matter of change in Master of Delhi with the Central Government or the party president, Sonia Gandhi. Similarly, the Members of Parliament from Delhi, who had raised a storm over the delay of giving Statehood to Delhi during the previous NDA regime, have not even bothered to take up the issue with the Central Government.
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