With about 40 lakh people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar living in Delhi, the remarks are being seen as very damaging for the Congress that only recently received a drubbing in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections. Those opposed to Ms. Dikshit are insisting that now it would be really difficult to assuage the hurt feelings of Poorvanchalis who constitute a third of the population of Delhi.

So they are insisting that a change of leadership is very essential now for the party to do well in the Delhi Assembly elections next year. Incidentally while this demand had also been made after the Congress lost the MCD polls, somehow there was also a feeling that Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Ram Babu Sharma might be the only person to face the axe once the Uttar Pradesh elections are over.

Mahabal Mishra, MLA from Nasirpur, who is considered one of the main Poorvanchal leaders in Delhi, said not only had the people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar ensured two victories for Ms. Dikshit, they had also played a key role in her son Sandeep Dikshit's election as Member of Parliament from East Delhi. Stating that people held protests against the Chief Minister at several places such as Palam, Uttam Nagar and Nasirpur, where they also burnt her effigies, Mr. Mishra said the protesters are demanding her resignation.

"I have assured people in my constituency that we would apprise Congress president Sonia Gandhi about their feelings. It is indeed sad that Ms. Dikshit has gone against the love and affection that the Nehru-Gandhi family always had for people from U.P. and Bihar. We would urge the Congress president to remove the Chief Minister," he said. Eager not to let go of this major issue, Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party president Harsh Vardhan has charged that Ms. Dikshit's statement in which she has termed the people from Bihar and U.P. as outsiders reflects her "fascist thinking".

The party also staged a demonstration at Jantar Mantar where Dr. Vardhan said under Article 21 of the Constitution every citizen of India has the right to reside or travel anywhere within the country and to earn a livelihood with honour.

Seeking to capitalise on the issue which has the potential to polarise a large section of the voters, the BJP leader also insisted that the Chief Minister's submission that she was not armed with a law which could stop people from U.P. and Bihar coming to Delhi showed her bias against them.

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