Month after Sheila Dikshit's demise, Sonia Gandhi meets Delhi Congress leaders over selection of new state unit chief

New Delhi: Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday met AICC in-charge of Delhi PC Chacko and district presidents to discuss the selection of a new chief for the party’s state unit. The Delhi Congress president post has been lying vacant since the demise of Sheila Dikshit in July. The selection of a new president for the Delhi Congress unit was discussed in the meeting, Chacko said and added that some local leader will be considered for the post. “The Congress chief instructed me to take feedback of senior party leaders, including former Delhi unit presidents and MPs, to find the right person for the post,” he said. Sonia held separate meetings with Chacko and presidents of district Congress units. [caption id=“attachment_6077131” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Sonia Gandhi. Twitter @INCIndia[/caption] “Besides me, district Congress presidents also met Sonia ji. Selection of a new president for the Delhi Congress was discussed in the meeting,” Chacko said, adding that he would again meet Sonia after taking feedback in the next few days. Chacko rejected media reports suggesting names of Navjot Singh Sidhu and Shatrughan Sinha as probables for the post of Delhi Congress president. “Such reports are mere conjectures. The next Delhi Congress president will be from Delhi,” he said. The Congress is endeavouring to select a suitable president to head the party in the national capital where Assembly polls are slated early in 2020. Earlier in August, Sonia met Delhi Congress leaders, after taking over charge of interim president of the party. Delhi Congress leaders said it will be a “difficult” exercise to find a replacement of Dikshit, who, despite her age, had led the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections. The Congress managed to push AAP to third place on five of the seven Lok Sabha constituencies, besides getting more votes than the ruling party in Delhi, they said. Dikshit, a three-time Delhi chief minister and senior Congress leader, passed away on 20 July. “Several names are doing the rounds for the Delhi president’s post. The three working presidents — Rajesh Lilothia, Haroon Yusuf and Devender Yadav — are there. Also, seniors like former presidents of the Delhi Congress like JP Agarwal and Subhash Chopra could be made president,” a Congress leader said. However, sources close to Agarwal said he was “reluctant” to take the charge due to his age. Names of Dikshit’s son Sandip Dikshit and former minister in the Sheila Dikshit government Yoganand Shastri are also in the reckoning, party leaders said.