Facing an all-round attack over power problems in Delhi, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's troubles appeared to be getting serious on Wednesday with a Congress Member of Parliament demanding her resignation. Several other leaders have also lashed out at her over her handling of the situation.

Ajay Maken, a one-time confidant of the chief minister, demanded Dikshit's resignation at a meeting of party MPs and leaders from the capital. They were to discuss Tuesday's Congress Legislature Party resolution calling for a rollback in the hike in power tariff for domestic and agricultural consumers, party sources said.

The Lok Sabha member from New Delhi constituency and former Delhi power minister Maken accused her of 'mishandling' the electricity crisis in the capital, they said.

Dikshit was unable to attend the meeting as she was participating in the National Integration Council meet. She was represented by Delhi Finance Minister A K Walia and Power Minister Haroon Yusuf. The meeting was attended by four out of six Delhi MPs. The absentees were Minister of State for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal and the chief minister's son Sandeep Dikshit.

Sources said Maken expressed dissatisfaction over the manner in which the chief minister changed her stand on the issue in recent days. He refused to comment on the issue to mediapersons.

Besides MPs and Delhi ministers, the meeting was attended by several Members of Legislative Assembly, including Delhi Pollution Control Committee chief Rambabu Sharma, Subhash Chopra and Tajdar Babbar.

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