NEW DELHI: Deep divisions within the Delhi Congress appear to get wider with the politics of sealing of commercial units in residential areas of the Capital intensifying.

A group of MLAs have threatened to sit on hunger relay strike from Friday to press demand for an Ordinance and an end to the sealing exercise immediately.

In another development, four Congress Councillors denied that they had submitted their resignations from their posts to Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Ram Babu Sharma as claimed by senior party leader R. K. Anand on Monday.

Former Mayor Ashok Kumar Jain, whose name had been included in the list of 11 Councillors who had reportedly resigned, on Wednesday denied that he had submitted his resignation. "I did not attend the press conference addressed by Mr. Anand nor did I submit my resignation to the DPCC president. I do not want to be party to any controversy,'' he added.

Similarly, another former Mayor, Jaishree Panwar, also denied having resigned as a Councillor as claimed by the group led by Mr. Anand.

A few other Councillors, who did not want to be identified, said they had not resigned and urged Mr. Anand to produce their resignation letters if they had done so.

This has come as a setback to Mr. Anand who has been locked in a running battle with former DPCC president Subhash Chopra in the South Delhi parliamentary constituency.

Meanwhile, the decision of a group of MLAs led by Mr. Chopra and former Minister Pervez Hashmi to go on a relay hunger strike is an indication that these leaders have decided to chart an independent course.

The two leaders have decided to garner the support of all MLAs and would begin their relay hunger strike at Kashmere Gate on Friday. This would be repeated in many constituencies including those held by the Opposition till a concrete solution was found to the problem.

"Both Mr. Chopra and Mr. Hashmi have been forced into this. They are working out their own solutions and do not belong to any camp including that of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. But they are strongly opposed to Outer Delhi Member of Parliament Sajjan Kumar and his proximity to Ms. Dikshit and DPCC president Ram Babu Sharma,'' a senior party leader remarked.

It is learnt that both Mr. Chopra and Mr. Hashmi are trying to garner support of at least 30 Congress MLAs for their programme that would directly showcase their strength and project them as leaders in their own right.

Both are peeved at the preferential treatment given to Mr. Sajjan Kumar by Mr. Sharma in the appointments made in the party in the recent past including those at the district and block levels.

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