In order to energise the organisation, the Delhi Congress may project its national general secretary Ajay Maken as the head of election campaign committee for the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls.
Mr Maken, however, is unwilling to take responsibility of Delhi’s political affairs, according to sources, as he is currently taking care of party’s national activities. His name has been suggested by senior Congress leaders, who may ask him to lead party’s election campaign in the city.
The Congress might also field Mr Maken against AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal from the New Delhi Assembly seat from where former chief minister Sheila Dikshit won thrice. Till now, Rajouri Garden had been the traditional Assembly seat for Mr Maken, who will now have to decide the constituency he will contest this time.
The party has started holding several rounds of meetings to take a final call on ticket distribution, but it is yet to announce its poll campaign committee. The Congress is going through a tough time in deciding the campaign committee chief.
Ms Dikshit is still active in politics but she is unwilling to contest elections anymore. Delhi PCC chief Arvinder Singh Lovely has been trying hard to revive the party after the last Lok Sabha debacle, but he has been facing trouble.
Senior leader Sajjan Kumar is also among the potential leaders in the Congress, but because of his alleged involvement in the 1984 Sikh riots, the party cannot project him in the Assembly polls. He has been helping the party in reviving its traditional votebanks.
According to the sources, recently Congress general secretary P.C. Chako had discussions with both Ms Dikshit and Mr Maken, but both of them were not keen to take the challenge in Delhi. The party president will take the final decision on the issue. The Election Commission announced February 7 as polling date.
The Congress had on January 1 released its first list of 24 candidates repeating all its eight MLAs and 12 others who were runner-ups in the 2013 Assembly election.
