The Prime Minister's Office is unhappy with the statement of Delhi Transport Minister Ajay Maken that the Pakistani government owes the Delhi Transport Corporation dues to the tune of Rs 24 lakhs for running the Delhi-Lahore bus service.

The bus service was suspended after the December 13, 2001 attack on Indian Parliament.

Officials termed the statement as 'uncalled for' and  'untimely'. What irritated them was timing of the statement, which came soon after Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced the resumption of the service.

The Bharatiya Janata Party also expressed unhappiness at the timing of the statement.

"Maken should not have said what he did after Vajpayee had given green signal to resumption of bus service between Lahore and New Delhi," J P Mathur, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader, told rediff.com.

Interestingly, even senior Congress leaders are not happy with Maken and unwilling to support him in public.

Efforts to contact Maken, however, proved futile. rediff.com was told by officials at his office that Maken was 'unavailable'.