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Congress legislators demand extended CLP meeting

Staff Reporter

To discuss sealing issue threadbare and if required to take up it with high command

NEW DELHI: With tension mounting over the sealing and demolitions issue and the political parties trying to outdo each other, several Congress legislators turned the heat on Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Friday demanding an "extended extensive meeting" of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) scheduled for October 30 to discuss this important issue.

In a letter to Ms. Dikshit, these legislators demanded that since the Capital was faced with a crisis due to the prospect of sealing that is likely to take place from November 1 and with no relief forthcoming, it was important that the CLP meet to extensively discuss the issue threadbare and if need be take up the matter with the party leadership so that a solution is found to the present problem to the satisfaction of all.

The legislators said that there was an atmosphere of uncertainty prevailing in the city among the traders and the affected families and adequate steps need to be taken to set right the situation and send out a clear message from the ruling party in order to check the propaganda being spread by the Opposition parties.

Mahipalpur MLA Vijay Lochav, who is one of the signatories to the letter, said the legislators had demanded that instead of meeting at 12 noon on October 30 the CLP meeting should start at 10 in the morning so that everything could be discussed at length. The other signatory MLAs include Anil Bhardwaj, Shadi Ram, Mateen Ahmed, Surinder Kumar, Meira Bhardwaj and Surinder Pal Singh Bitto.

"A message seems to have gone around that the Delhi Government is doing little to resolve the situation. The traders are blaming the Congress party for all that is happening and this situation needs to be corrected. We have to contest elections in future and also ensure a victory for the Congress party in the upcoming MCD polls. Under the given circumstances and the volatile political climate, it would be very difficult to get a favourable response from the people at large," said Poorvanchal leader and Nasirpur MLA Mahabal Mishra.

On the other hand, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Ram Babu Sharma led a delegation of party leaders to Monitoring Committee member K.J. Rao to seek relief for the 45,000-odd traders who would stand affected by the sealing from November 1. Mr. Sharma submitted before the Supreme Court-appointed Monitoring Committee that in view of the tension prevailing in the city and the large-scale displacement that would result due to sealing and demolitions in the Capital, the sealing should be postponed till the new Master Plan for Delhi 2021 is notified.

Similarly, intensifying the campaign against sealing and seeking a Constitutional amendment, former Union Minister Vijay Goel announced a 48-hour dharna outside Town Hall beginning Saturday.

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