Ajay Maken resigns as Delhi Congress chief citing health reasons; triggers rumours of playing larger role in 2019 Lok Sabha polls

Ajay Maken on Friday resigned as chief of the Congress’ Delhi unit, citing health reasons. However, sources told NDTV that there is a possibility of Maken being assigned a new central role, and that he may even contest the Lok Sabha election. [caption id=“attachment_4465865” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Congress leader Ajay Maken. News18[/caption] The development comes as Congress is mulling having an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party to defeat the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls. Maken, however, had strongly opposed the alliance , alleging that the Arvind Kejriwal-led party is working with the BJP to make a dent in Congress' vote share . Being in the Opposition, Maken has also launched bitter attacks on the ruling party in Delhi. Therefore, the Congress leadership might be considering moving Maken to the party’s central command to ensure alliance talks can take off smoothly. Similar reports of Maken's resignation had emerged in September too. Newspaper reports claimed that Maken handed his papers to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and to Delhi Congress party affairs incharge PC Chacko on 13 September. In an official confirmation, however, the Congress denied these claims and said, “Delhi Congress President Ajay Maken has not resigned. He has some health issues and has gone for a check-up. He will be back soon. He had recently met party President Rahul Gandhi and party in-charge of Delhi affairs PC Chacko.” A senior politician in Congress, Maken was twice elected as a Member of Parliament, and three times to the Delhi Legislative Assembly. He was appointed as the president of the Delhi Congress Committee in 2015. He was appointed as the Speaker of Delhi Legislative Assembly in 2004 before replacing MS Gill as the Minister for sports and youth affairs in the Union Cabinet in 2011.