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  Metros   Delhi  03 May 2017  Congress wants Ajay Maken to continue as chief

Congress wants Ajay Maken to continue as chief

THE ASIAN AGE.
Published : May 3, 2017, 3:15 am IST
Updated : May 3, 2017, 6:14 am IST

Former chief minister and Congress leader Sheila Dikshit, a known baiter of the Delhi Congress chief, reportedly met Mr Gandhi on Monday.

Ajay Maken (Photo: PTI)
 Ajay Maken (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: A week after senior Congress leader Ajay Maken resigned from his post following the party’s poor show in the civic polls, he has been directed by the party leadership to continue as the head of the party’s state unit.

Mr Maken, on Wednes-day, will convene his first meeting after the poll debacle with party candidates, former city MPs, former legislators and district pre-sidents to draw a roadmap for the future line of action for the 2020 Assembly elections in Delhi.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is also learnt to have turned down the “offer of resignation” by AICC in-charge of Delhi Congress P.C. Chacko as well.

Mr Maken, who took over the reins of the party’s Delhi unit following the 2015 Assembly polls, has been asked to give the party a massive overhaul. Sources said that major restructuring is expected in the next 20 days. Party’s councillor candidates are also expected to attend the Wednesday meeting.

Former chief minister and Congress leader Sheila Dikshit, a known baiter of the Delhi Congress chief, reportedly met Mr Gandhi on Monday. After the results for the civic polls was announced last week, Ms Dikshit had accused Mr Maken of failing to take senior leaders along.

While leaders such as Ms Dikshit and former Delhi minister Harun Yusuf stay-ed away from the party ca-mpaign, former Delhi Con-gress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely and party’s Delhi women wing chief Barkha Singh joined the BJP ahead of the April 23 civic polls.

“I’m like a son to her. I consider her my mentor,” Mr Maken had told reporters in response to her charges. But he didn’t hold himself back from alleging that Ms Dikshit and her son, Sandeep Dikshit, have wilfully maligned him for years.

The party leadership’s decision to continue with Mr Maken is also being seen as a move to silence his critiques. Internal differences and failure to counter the Modi wave had led to the debacle in the Delhi municipal elections. But the party, which came down from 77 to 30 civic wards, claimed that its vote share has gone up after the wipe out in the 2015 Assembly polls

Tags: ajay maken, rahul gandhi, assembly polls, sheila dikshit
Location: India, Delhi, New Delhi