New Delhi: The Congress party is likely to announce their Delhi unit chief by Monday. Senior leaders from the Delhi Congress met the party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday to discuss the possible candidates who can lead the party through the Assembly elections scheduled for next year.
The All India Congress Committee (AICC) Delhi in-charge PC Chacko and four former Delhi Congress presidents Ajay Maken, Subhash Chopra, Arvinder Singh Lovely and Tajdar Babar attended the meeting at Gandhi’s residence. Another former state unit chief JP Agarwal was not in the city and could not attend the meeting.
“I met her (Sonia Gandhi) with four former Delhi Congress presidents and then I had a meeting with her separately. She has asked for two to three days to decide on the name of the Delhi chief. We are hopeful that by Monday, we can make an announcement,” Chacko said after the meeting.
He said Gandhi asked for the names of those who can work keeping the party together, which will be the primary requirement, considering the Delhi unit’s fragmented state. Even when former chief Sheila Dikshit was heading the party activities, rifts between the senior leadership had started coming to the fore.
A segment of the leadership had voiced their displeasure with Dikshit’s decision to re-elect its block and district presidents after the party’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections.
{{/usCountry}}A segment of the leadership had voiced their displeasure with Dikshit’s decision to re-elect its block and district presidents after the party’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections.
{{/usCountry}}“We have assured her (Gandhi) that whatever decision she takes, the party will work together,” Chacko said.
Senior party leaders said that Maken, JP Agarwal and Chopra could be the possible choices to head the party in Delhi, given their experience in the party and reach among voters. However, there is also a possibility that Gandhi will remove the post of ‘working presidents’ that was created when 81-year-old Dikshit was appointed president earlier this year.
At present, Rajesh Lilothia, Haroon Yusuf and Devender Yadav are the working presidents of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC).
“There is a possibility that the post of ‘working president’ itself will be done away with. The plan could be to have a senior leader who has complete control over the party’s functioning in the capital,” a senior party leader, on condition of anonymity, said.