Post rout in Delhi election, Ajay Maken resigns as Congress general secretary

New Delhi, Feb 10: Congress' chief ministerial aspirant Ajay Maken resigned as party's general secretary after it suffered a rout in the Delhi assembly election on Tuesday.

Maken and all other 69 candidates of the Congress were defeated in the Saturday ballot.

Congress general secretary had earlier said that he would resign from his post if he fails to win from the Sadar Bazar seat in the Delhi Assembly polls.

Maken had made it clear that he would not continue as an AICC general secretary or the head of its Communications Department if he loses his Assembly seat.

He had discussed the matter with his close party colleagues.

Maken was made AICC general secretary and the chairman of its Communications Department in June, 2013, soon after he had resigned as the Union Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation.

He was made the Campaign Committee Chief for the Delhi polls with three-time former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's role having been curtailed by the party.

When he was asked about the exit poll surveys predicting only two to four seats for Congress, the AICC general secretary had said, "If the exit poll predictions come true, I will take full responsibility. You cannot separate accountability from responsibility. If anything like this happens, I am responsible. I have to be held accountable."

Maken also said that were the exit polls predictions to be proven correct, it would only mean that the results of the 2014 Assembly polls in Delhi are an extension of the 2013 elections.

"People perhaps felt that the 49-days for which AAP remained in power was not enough and hence they wanted to give Arvind Kejriwal a full five-year term to fulfil his promises," he said.

In the last Delhi polls, Congress had finished a poor third with just eight seats while AAP had garnered 28 seats and BJP had emerged as the single-largest party with 31 seats.

Congress had later given outside support to AAP to form a government here but Kejriwal had resigned from his chief ministership over the Lokpal Bill issue after 49 days in power.

OneIndia News

(With inputs from agencies)