Maken withdraws his resignation as Delhi Cong chief

NEW DELHI: Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken on Wednesday announced that he has withdrawn his resignation which he had submitted to party President Sonia Gandhi after the Congress' ‘unsatisfactory performance' in the recent Delhi civic polls.

Maken who had also submitted his resignation to Rahul Gandhi stated that the Congress Vice President told me that the party has increased its vote share compared with the Delhi assembly polls of 2015.

“Rahulji asked me to continue as Delhi Congress chief because results in the elections are encouraging and we have managed to increase our vote share from nine per cent to 22 per cent,” said Maken.

Also, Maken stated that Rahul Gandhi had asked him to keep striving towards bringing the party back to the ‘number one' position in Delhi.

Amidst 2015 Delhi Assembly Polls, the Congress High Command had made Maken the in charge of Delhi affairs while former Delhi minister Arvinder Singh Lovely was holding the position of Delhi Unit Chief.

Maken had contested as MLA election from Sadar Delhi but Lovely was unable to contest the election. Congress received humiliating defeat as decimated from 43 to 0 legislator in 2015 Assembly Polls.

Maken said, “The Rajouri Garden assembly by-election and the Delhi Municipal Corporations elections had clearly proved that the traditional support base of the party was returning to it.”

Besides Maken, P.C. Chacko, in charge of Congress affairs in Delhi, had also resigned owing to moral responsibility for the party's performance in Delhi's civic polls. But, their resignations were not accepted.

The Congress won 30 of 270 seats in the civic polls and secured the third position after the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Aam Aadmi Party.