NEW DELHI: The unrest within the Delhi Congress spilled out in the open with a dozen MLAs on Sunday demanding that Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit discharge her moral duty as head of the State and lead an all party MLAs on a hunger strike against the ongoing sealing and demolition exercise in the Capital in order to send a positive message on behalf of the Congress Government and the party.

The 40-minute meeting held at the residence of the Chief Minister witnessed heated exchanges with Ms. Dikshit at one point in time while responding to queries raised by the dissident MLAs saying that she was "fed up of the present situation'' and did not want to continue as Chief Minister as things had become very difficult for her due to factionalism.

Poorvanchal leader and Nasirpur MLA Mahabal Mishra sat on a dharna outside the Chief Minister's residence refusing to go inside as a mark of protest. During the meeting, it is learnt the MLAs, including Mukesh Sharma, Bhisham Sharma, Anil Bhardwaj, Vijay Lochav, Shadi Ram, Jai Kishen, Surinder Pal Singh Bittoo and Surinder Kumar charged the Chief Minister with acting against the interests of the United Progressive Alliance Government and not dissuading her loyalist MLAs from undertaking an agitation against the Central Government. As the MLAs came out of the Chief Minister's residence, they raised slogans against the sealing and in favour of the Congress president and demanded that Ms.Dikshit go to the court on the issue.

The MLAs pointed out that the Congress president Sonia Gandhi had intervened in the matter and even urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to find a solution following which Dr. Singh had called a meeting and asked the Union Urban Development Ministry to seek six months extension from the Apex Court. However, Ms. Dikshit allowed her own MLAs to sit on relay hunger strike against the Union Government. Also, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Chief Minister, Nasib Singh, and Chief Whip, Ramakant Goswami, joined the agitation giving an indication that the Government was with the protesting group.

"Why is the Chief Minister now silent on the issue of demolitions and sealing. Why is that she has not volunteered to take up the issue in the right earnest like in the CNG case where she had threatened to go to jail in the interests of the people of Delhi?'' the MLAs asked. In their letter to the Chief Minister, these MLAs demanded that an emergency meeting of the Delhi Cabinet be convened and it should pass a resolution demanding changes in the law or issuing of an Ordinance and send the same to the Union Government. The Chief Minister should personally appear in the Supreme Court.

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