Amidst reports that senior Congress leader Ajay Maken has offered to step down as the head of Congress’s Delhi unit, former MP P.C. Chacko dismissed the reports as “rumours” .
Mr. Chacko, who is the All India Congress Committee (AICC) incharge of Delhi, claimed that “Mr. Maken 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 he has gone for treatment,”he said.
Back treatment
Sources close to Mr. Maken said he is abroad for treatment for back pain and is expected to be out of work for some time.
Mr. Maken was hand-picked by the Congress president three years ago to lead the Delhi Congress, replacing former Delhi government Minister Arvinder Singh.
After being wiped out by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the last Assembly elections, Mr. Maken has been one of the most vocal critics of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
So the talk of his “stepping down” comes at a time when there are persistent rumours about a possible Congress-AAP tie-up for the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi.
Strong opposition
While Mr. Maken is strongly opposed to such an alliance and argues that that AAP grew in Delhi only at the expense of Congress’s support base, another section favours a consolidation of anti-BJP forces ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year.
On September 10, during the nationwide Bharat bandh called by the Congress party, AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh shared stage with Mr. Gandhi at a protest in Central Delhi. The Delhi unit of the Congress party, however, targeted both the Centre and the Delhi government over the fuel price hike.
