MLAs angry at MP's refusal to meet them

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, APRIL 5. Strong resentment prevails among Congress(I) MLAs over the failure of the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, to grant time to the Delhi Chief Minister, Ms. Sheila Dikshit, and other elected representatives for an audience on the issue of CNG-related crisis in the Capital.

The Chief Minister had three days ago sought time from the Prime Minister to meet him along with the MLAs to apprise him about the real situation on the CNG front and seek his intervention to direct the Central Ministries to take necessary action so that lakhs of commuters in Delhi are not put to inconvenience. But the Prime Minister refused to meet the MLAs despite the Capital witnessing large-scale violence on April 3.

Ms. Dikshit said the Prime Minister had spoken to her on April 3 but has still not granted time for a formal meeting. ``I am still awaiting a positive reply from Mr. Vajpayee's office on my request. I hope it materialises soon and something positive emerges,'' she added.

The DPCC(I) president, Mr. Subhash Chopra, who led the charge to the Prime Minister's house on Wednesday after Mr. Vajpayee refused to meet them said that in a democratic country, the Head of the Government has to cater to the interests and welfare of all people irrespective of which party or region they belong. ``But the Prime Minister does not even have time to meet the leaders of Delhi. What is worse, the Prime Minister has time to address rallies all over the country to save his Government in wake of the Tehelka expose but has not time to mitigate the grievances of the Delhiites.''

Stating that this was nothing new, Mr.Chopra said Mr. Vajpayee had adopted the same attitude during the closure of industries agitation, when lakhs of people faced the threat of being dislocated but Mr.Vajpayee kept quiet and did not intervene. ``The Centre has to share the blame for whatever happened in the Capital and that is why we were forced to agitate'', he said.

The Jangpura MLA, Mr. Talvinder Singh Marwah said: ``It is unfortunate the Prime Minister does not have time to listen to the problems of Delhi people who are hard pressed due to the failure of the Central agencies to provide CNG fuel and other infrastructure. The Capital has already witnessed large-scale violence and this does not seem to have had any impact on the Prime Minister.''

The vocal party MLA, Mr. Mukesh Sharma, condemned the ``indifferent attitude'' of the Centre and said it was strange that the Prime Minister does not have time to listen to the hardships of Delhiites. The Central Ministries are virtually doing nothing on the CNG front and the present crisis is their creation. Instead of according priority to the problems of Delhi, the Prime Minister is indulging in politics and not granting them an audience.

The Gandhi Nagar MLA, Mr. Arvinder Singh Lovely, felt that the recent violence are a deliberate attempt by the Centre to defame the Congress(I) Government. It is strange that everytime an agitation takes place in Delhi, it turns violent and the police look the other side. ``It looks as if the Union Home Ministry wants to create trouble and the police acts on its directions. This coupled with the refusal of the Prime Minister to meet the Chief Minister and MLAs clearly indicates that the Centre is bent upon creating trouble for our Government,'' he added.

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