The Congress’ massive defeat in the Delhi civic elections has set off yet another round of internal feud in the party.
Former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit blamed Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken’s style of functioning for the poll debacle.
Maken and AICC’s in-charge of the State, PC Chacko, have submitted their resignations, taking moral responsibility for the defeat. Senior party leader and former Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely, who was close to Dikshit, had joined the BJP days ahead of the polls.
The Congress poor showing, behind the BJP and the AAP, comes after it emerged runner-up in the recent Assembly bypoll to the Rajinder Nagar constituency. The ‘Grand Old Party’ had then claimed that it was the BJP only true opponent.
The results may also hamper party chief Sonia Gandhi’s efforts to build a united Opposition against the BJP ahead of the Presidential elections.
Maken told reporters after submitting his resignation that he would not take up any party position for a year and would perform his duty as an ordinary worker. “It is a reasonable revival of the Congress but I had hoped for something better than this. I had expected to perform a little better. So, as the president of Delhi Congress I take moral responsibility and offer to resign from my post. I have decided to resign from my post,” he said.
He, however, claimed the vote percentage of the Congress in Delhi had increased during his regime. “We have fought the election on positive issues. We are satisfied that we raised reasonable issues in the election. I was given free hand during my two-year tenure as Delhi Congress president in organisational appointments,” he said.
In his resignation letter, Chacko said in the letter that the party should introspect and ascertain the reasons for its defeat in Delhi and redefine its future strategy.
Dikshit said the leadership could not reach out to the voters. “The party was not able top reach out (to voters) the way we should have. Any excuse can be given when you don’t want to do anything. The decision has to be taken by the high command. The leadership needs to introspect,” she said, and added that Maken failed to involve senior leaders including her in campaigning for the polls. “I was not asked for campaigning then how could have I gone for it,” Dikshit said.