Congress may choose new face as Delhi unit president

NEW DELHI: Hectic lobbying has started in the Congress over the post of the party’s city unit chief after the local leaders apprised party interim chief Sonia Gandhi about the urgency of the matter in wake of the Assembly elections which are due in February next year. The post of the Delhi Congress president fell vacant after the death of former chief minister Sheila Dikshit.

Sources said that city’s senior leaders — Haroon Yusuf, Rajesh Lilothia and Devender Yadav — who had been appointed as working presidents when Ms Dikshit took charge of the party’s city affairs are among the front-runners for the coveted post. The Congress has already begun hunt for a young leader who could lead the party in the Assembly elections. Party’s three working presidents and district chief’s accompanied by general secretary in-charge of city affairs P.C. Chacko on Tuesday held a marathon meeting in this regard with Ms Gandhi as to who could lead the party in the state. There are indications that the party is not averse to bring back any of the former city unit presidents – Ajay Maken, J.P. Aggarwal, Subhash Chopra and Arvinder Singh Lovely — as the city unit head. Sources said that Mr Maken has already expressed his reluctance to again take over as the party chief. “If he had to run the city unit, then in the first place he would not have left this post,” a close confidant of Mr Maken told this reporter. “But if there is no consensus on any particular leader, then Mr Maken will be left with no other choice to again take over the charge of the party’s affairs in Delhi.”

A party insider said that there are chances that the party may appoint a new face for Delhi. “But who will be the new face of the party, only time will decide.”

The Congress insiders claimed that the new president should be the one who has served congress wholeheartedly and should be the one who knows and understands Delhi and Delhiites.