The meeting, organised by Congress MP Murli Deora, was attended by Housing Minister Sureshdada Jain, Deora and representatives from a host of tenants' groups.

The tenant who provoked Purohit had said that while the government held meetings with tenants it also kept in touch with the landlords. Giving vent to his considerable displeasure, Purohit shouted, ``Tu bhang pi ke aya hai kya,'' and called the remark `politically motivated.'

The minister pointedly told the tenant, reportedly from Colaba in South Mumbai, that all along it was he (Purohit) who took the initiative and organised meetings with tenants' groups. The tenant related how the state government was making it difficult at every step for the tenants to succeed in the 100-months' rent scheme for tenants to form aco-operative housing society.

The only consensus arrived at the meeting, where the Shiv Sena, the BJP and the Congress shared a platform over the issue for the first time, was over the formation of a five-member co-ordination committee of tenants' groups to help the government fight their case. The landlords had filed a petition in the Supreme Court recently demanding that the interim Rent Act be struck down.

Deora, who had been actively campaigning for protection of tenants' rights, accused the alliance government of ``delaying the introduction of the Maharashtra Rent Control Bill and neglecting the plight of tenants.'' He said that Friday's meeting offered a common platform for tenants' groups and the government to have a dialogue over how the state should battle it out with the landlords in the Supreme Court. The next hearing on the matter is scheduled on January 25.

Meanwhile, both the housing ministers reiterated that the government's stand was ``not to effect any increase in rents.'' However theyfailed to come up with a convincing answer on why they had not introduced the new bill though they had promised the apex court about it in December 1997. The interim Rent Act will lapse on March 31, 1999 and the state should come up with a new one before that if they want to protect lakhs of tenants.

Purohit also reprimanded Harish Ganatra of the Confederation of Tenants' Association of Mumbai, one of the intervening parties in the Supreme Court, for raising the issue of rent hike. The minister told Ganatra not to discuss strategies in public.

Instead of outlining the necessary steps to be taken, both Jain and his deputy claimed that the state government will not hesitate to extend the present Act or enact a new one if needed. They claimed that the parliamentary Joint Select Committee is still divided and undecided over the issue. ``It is upto the committee how long it takes to decide,'' said Purohit quickly adding that no decision will be arrived at until the Supreme Court gave its judgement over theissue.

Tenants, however, wondered what would be their fate if the apex court decides to strike down the present Act. Tenant activists described today's meeting as superficial and termed it as a PR exercise organised in haste to assuage apprehensions still troubling the tenants' groups across the state.

The next meeting of tenants' groups is scheduled to be held with Chief Minister Manohar Joshi at his official residence on January 19. In the meantime tenants have decided to also meet among themselves and fine tune their arguments.