Congress MPs were shocked at the treatment they received at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Thursday when they went to call on President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. The President virtually dismissed them in 60 seconds.Kalam told them there was tea for them but he, the host, did not stay for it. He said he had to go for a meeting. The delegation was led by leader of the Congress in Rajya Sabha Manmohan Singh. The group of 150, with MPs from both Houses, and around 15 legislators from UP, included senior leaders. There was Shivraj Patil, deputy leader of the party in the Lok Sabha, chief whips and veteran party leaders like Arjun Singh, Natwar Singh, Pranab Mukherji, Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, Ambika Soni, and Ghulam Nabi Azad.‘‘What made it worse is that MPs and MLAs who went to call on him are, after all, the legislators who are his voters and represent his electoral college,’’ said a senior Congress leader today.The MPs are believed to have sought an appointment with the President about a week ago. Around 150 of them had marched to Rashtrapati Bhawan from Parliament House yesterday to protest against the breakdown of law in UP.When the President walked in, Singh handed over the memorandum to him and drew his attention to the violation of the Constitution in UP. Referring to UP CM Mayawati’s statement that no lobby division had been called for, Singh said this was not true as Congress had given the demand in writing three hours in advance.The President then asked the group if anyone else wanted to say anything and added that he would look into the matter. He then told them he had a meeting to attend, that they could have tea, and left. ‘‘This is a serious issue,’’ said a senior Congress leader. ‘‘It has been a practice of MPs and MLAs to go to the President and express their grievances. He has ignored the representative character of the legislators who called on him.’’
