Today, traders in Connaught Place, Karol Bagh and South Extension -- part I and II stayed home, disappointing thousands of summerwear shoppers on a government holiday. Other markets were partially open.

``But tomorrow,'' says Manohar Lal Kumar, president of the Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh and a BJP leader, ``the shops will reopen. We met the Prime Minister and he has promised to look into the matter.'' ``Nothing of this sort happened,'' says Manohar Lal's colleague M.M. Aggarwal, Mahasangh vice-president and not a BJP leader. ``We couldn't meet him directly, but we submitted a memorandum. We demanded that the Cabinet withhold its consent to the Bill and refer it to the Parliamentary Standing Committee.'' This morning, some of the traders accompanied a delegation of BJP workers led by BJP's Delhi unit president Mange Ram Garg to the PM's house. The BJP team wanted to congratulate the PM for the second successful testing of the Agni missile; the traders thought they would use the opportunity to raise their demands.

But Garg, MP Vijay Goel and Vijay Kumar Malhotra came between them and the PM, says Aggarwal in a press release. And he and his fellow traders never actually got to speak to the PM, as the other leaders took over and showered assurances. All they managed was to submit a memorandum. Therefore, traders will be on strike tomorrow as well, he added.

In a separate press release, Manohar Lal Kumar said the PM had assured Garg, Malhotra and Goel that he would ask Union Urban Affairs Minister Ram Jethmalani to look into the matter. And Garg, Malhotra and Goel in turn had assured the traders. So there won't be any strike tomorrow.

Strike or no strike, the Apex Association of DDA Colonies have also taken a stand on the issue. A fora of flat and land owners, they said today that the demands of the trader-tenants were unjustified.