The Hindu : New Delhi News : `A step too late in the day'

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Saturday, Nov 04, 2006
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`A step too late in the day'

Staff Reporter

This should have been done six months ago, says Ram Babu

NEW DELHI: The announcement by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit inside the Delhi Assembly on Friday that the Delhi Government had moved the Supreme Court to seek relief for traders is being termed by party leaders and MLAs as a step that has come too late in the day.

Stating that he had come to know about the intervention in the Supreme Court through the statement given by the Chief Minister, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Ram Babu Sharma said this step should have been taken six months ago when he along with other party leaders and MLAs had made such a demand.

Stating that it is better late than never, Mr. Sharma said "everybody is working hard to seek relief for the traders and save lakhs of families from being displaced". He said the Urban Development Ministry as well as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi had already sought relief for the traders and the Delhi Government's intervention would give strength to their case.

Stating that the Congress had always supported the just cause of the traders, Mr. Sharma termed as baseless and factually incorrect the allegation that he was leading a traders' rally at Malviya Nagar in South Delhi where anti-Sonia Gandhi slogans were raised. "No such thing took place at the rally and this can be verified from the video recordings of the event. This is just a malicious campaign launched by some vested interests," he added.

Senior Congress MLA Mahabal Mishra said this step should have been taken six months ago. "Now the situation seems to be going out of control and the Central Government is already contesting in favour of the traders in the Supreme Court. There is no point the Delhi Government now becoming a party in the court when things have gone from bad to worse," he said.

Nationalist Congress Party president Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said if the Chief Minister was so serious about getting relief for the traders then she should ask the UPA Government to carry out a Constitutional amendment and include the Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act 2006 in the IX Schedule of the Constitution.

Stating that the timing of approaching the Court was wrong, Mr. Bidhuri said when the Delhi Government should have gone to the Supreme Court it shied away from owning responsibility and now when things had gone out of control, it was just an attempt to escape the wrath of the traders and the common man.

The NCP Delhi unit president said it was an irony that instead of looking for a permanent cure, the Delhi Government was indulging in ad hoc-ism and trying to settle political scores by using the traders. "If Ms. Dikshit is so concerned and serious in her intentions, she should amend the resolution she has moved in the House and incorporate the issue of Constitutional amendment into it. This would prove her credentials and send a clear message as to where her sympathies are," he said.

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