Delhi BJP demands resignation of UD Minister Jaipal Reddy

New Delhi, Mar 28 (UNI) Strongly condemning the sealing drive which began in the capital today, the BJP Delhi Pradesh demanded immediate resignation of Union Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, holding them responsible for it.

''The people of Delhi have not been provided relief from sealing in spite of hundreds of announcements made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, the Union Urban Development Minister, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Pradesh Congress President Rambabu Sharma.

The reality of the misleading and false announcements made in the last one and half year has come before us when the sealing squads along with heavy police force came out for sealing by force,''BJP Delhi Pradesh president Harshvardhan said in a statement.

Today the MCD sealing squad put to seal shops on the Wazirabad Road, Preet Vihar and Africa Avenue.

''On the one hand, people are being rendered unemployed by forced sealing, while on the other the Congress leaders are announcing in their speeches that the new Master Plan has provided relief to everyone,''Dr Harshvardhan said.

For example, Union Minister of State for Urban Development Ajay Maken claimed in election meetings today that all the 1,500 unauthorised colonies have been regularised.

''The reality is that the Central Government has not framed any rule, by laws for the regularisation of unauthorised colonies till date. Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has announced that after the MCD elections the development fee and the penalty that have to be recovered from the people of unauthorised colonies shall be fixed,''the Delhi BJP chief said.

In this context, he stated that after the incidence of police firing in Seelampur during the sealing in Delhi in which four people were killed, Congress leaders had assured that no such incident will be allowed to happen, and that sealing will be stopped forever.

''During that period the people affected by sealing -- traders, industrialists etc. met Ms Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and even President A P J Abdul Kalam. All of them had said that sealing will not be done and that people shall be provided relief. The Congress should answer why the sealing is being done again today,''he said.

''Actually the Congress does not want to provide relief to the people of Delhi. This is the reason why it prepared such a defective Master Plan that although it may have been implemented yet be rejected in the Court,''he said.

UNI