New Delhi, May 21 :     The former Prime Ministers' club was at it again, raising their voice for the slum-dwellers of the capital. This afternoon, they organised a rally demanding housing for all outside Red Fort. However, only two of the four ex-Premiers, V.P. Singh and H.D. Deve Gowda, attended the rally - Chandra Shekhar and I.K. Gujral would not brave the 43 degrees plus heat. CPM leader Harkishen Singh Surjeet shared the dais with Singh and Gowda. The rally was impressive and the applause resounding. But it was not clear whether third front politics reached anywhere with the show of strength. Unlike Mandalisation, Singh's issue this time has not received much media attention. Looking for greener pastures, the former Premier hinted today that he would carry the 'politics of shelter' elsewhere: to Bhopal to begin with and then to other states. Gowda, more ambitious, said a national emergency should be declared till every citizen is given shelter. With the principal Opposition party, the Congress, failing to confront the government adequately, the former Prime Ministers are trying to stage a comeback. Singh has chosen an issue which he believes would give him a popular plank in all urban slums. He might take it later to the villages where the housing situation is even more grim. But till now the former Prime Ministers have been in Delhi. They have not proved effective either: their loud protests have not caused the least bit of trouble to the BJP. At the rally Singh demanded housing be made a Fundamental Right and the Constitution be amended for the purpose. He said the Centre should draft a comprehensive national slum policy for the urban poor within a year. Singh stressed that residents of slums should not be evicted without proper advance notice or alternative arrangements for their rehabilitation. Union urban development minister Jagmohan, who went into overdrive to demolish illegal structures in Delhi, whether in slums or DDA areas, was criticised strongly by Singh. He challenged the minister to expose the land mafia operating in the capital. He regretted that Jagmohan deemed it more urgent to dismantle the residential quarters of the poor, leaving the illegal buildings occupied by the rich untouched. At the heart of this fury over slum-dwellers' rights is Singh's shrewd analysis that the Congress is failing to highlight the ills of the second round of reforms kick-started by the Vajpayee government. Singh and the other ex-Prime Ministers, therefore, have decided to speak out against the way 'benefits are being handed on a platter to the industrialists by this government'. Gowda slammed the Vajpayee government's economic policies. A 'humble farmer', he criticised the 'trend' of migration of agricultural labour to the cities. He also lashed out against the rise in prices of essential commodities and concessions granted to multinationals and 'capitalists'.