Former CM Ashok Chavan is new Maharashtra Congress chief

Mumbai, March 2: Former chief minister Ashok Chavan has been appointed the new Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee President, while Sanjay Nirupam will be the new Mumbai party chief, officials said on Monday.

The development comes days after reports came that Congress leader Ajay Maken will be the chief of the party unit in Delhi where Congress suffered a wipe-out in Assembly polls in the national capital.

The decision is expected to be announced in a day or two, sources said, indicating that some other changes could also be announced which includes replacing Punjab Congress chief Pratap Singh Bajwa.

The name of former minister Lal Singh is doing the rounds as Bajwa's replacement, sources said.

The party may announce some big-ticket changes in the next few days as it attempts to revamp the organisation in the backdrop of a series of major electoral setbacks since the Lok Sabha poll loss last year.

The party had fought the Delhi election projecting Mr. Maken as its face but could not open its account in the 70-member State Assembly where Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party bagged an unprecedented 67 seats, leaving three for BJP.

This is the second successive defeat for Congress in Delhi after the December 2013 assembly polls in which it had won in only eight seats and its Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had lost her home constituency New Delhi to Kejriwal.

After the rout in Assembly polls this year, both Maken and PCC chief Arvinder Singh Lovely submitted their resignation to Congress president Sonia Gandhi as AICC general secretary and PCC chief respectively.

The decision make Mr. Maken as Delhi Congress chief is being seen as Rahul Gandhi's long-term plan to revive the party in Delhi and push new leadership.

After securing an all-time low 44 seats in Lok Sabha polls last year, Congress has lost assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand and Delhi.