Amidst reports that Ajay Maken has offered to step down as Delhi Congress chief, former MP P.C. Chacko denied that Mr. Maken has resigned and claimed that the former has only "conveyed his health concerns to Congress president Rahul Gandhi".
"Mr. Maken has not resigned. He has only conveyed his health issues to the Congress president and gone for treatment," Mr. Chacko said.
Sources close to Mr. Maken said he was out of the country for treatment of back pain and was expected to be out of work for some time.
Mr. Maken was hand-picked by Mr. Gandhi to lead the Delhi Congress, replacing Arvinder Singh Lovely.
After being wiped out by the Aam Admi Party (AAP) in the last Assembly elections, Mr. Maken has been one of the most vocal critics of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
So the talk of his "stepping down" comes at a time when there is persistent speculation about a Congress-AAP tie-up for the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi.
In the recent 'Bharat bandh', while the Delhi Congress protested against the Centre and the Delhi government on the fuel price hike, AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh shared the stage with Mr. Gandhi at a protest in central Delhi.
