Former Union Minister and Congress general secretary Ajay Maken will lead the party in the Delhi Assembly polls. AICC sources said Maken would be the face of the party for the February polls and may be among the three former MPs — Krishna Tirath and Mahabal Mishra — who will be fielded by the party in the State polls.
Maken, who represented the New Delhi parliamentary constituency for two consecutive terms and lost to BJP’s Meenakshi lekhi last lok Sabha, would return to Delhi State politics after a long hiatus, which is being perceived as major thrust for Delhi local politics. Maken was accorded a bigger role by Rahul Gandhi in both the UPA Governments and later Rahul made him relinquish his Cabinet portfolio to serve the organisation. He is now AICC general secretary and also head of the AICC Communication Department. The Congress Minister has served Delhi earlier as Transport Minister and credited to be the main man behind CNG bus in Delhi. Before his final exit from Delhi politics he had served as Delhi legislative Speaker Assembly.
The Central Election Committee chaired by party president Sonia Gandhi on Monday finalised for 39 more seats taking the nominees for 63 assembly segments decided by the party for the 70-member Delhi Assembly. The discussion for seven Assembly seats is going on and will be shortlisted sooner. The Congress had on January 1 released its first list of 24 candidates repeating all its eight MlAs and 12 others who were runners-up in the 2013 Assembly election in which the party had received a drubbing securing just eight seats. The party has also dismissed speculation that DPCC chief Arvinder Singh lovely, whose candidature was declared in the first list, won’t contest elections this time.