Maken takes over as city Congress chief, slams Kejriwal

Former Union minister Ajay Maken took over as the Delhi Congress chief on Sunday and showed a lot of aggression against the BJP and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal whom he advised to start delivering on his promising.

The new Delhi Congress chief said his foremost suggestion to the Kejriwal government would be “to start working actually in the right earnest rather than finding excuses and alibis to not working”.

“Be it the issue of demanding statehood from a professedly opposed central government and Prime Minister, demand of water from an openly hostile Haryana or the unreasonable demand of appointing officers, Kejriwal has only created unnecessary road blocks to performance rather than performing,” said Maken.

“One wondered as to how a government that banned the entry of mediapersons in the Player’s Building (Delhi Secretariat), spoke of transparency and eradication of corruption,” said the new Delhi Congress chief.

“The two basic pillars that created the AAP were transparency and internal democracy. Their steps with regards to banning the media and the (action against party leaders ) Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, had betrayed AAP’s core beliefs,” said Maken.

He acknowledged that the Congress has a big challenge ahead as it lost three elections in the city in 15 months. Maken said the unprecedented challenge before the Congress could be converted into an opportunity if the party was to play the role of a meaningful and true opposition with the interest of people solely guiding it.

Former chief minister Sheila Dikshit, perceived as a rival of Maken within the party, and outgoing Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh were also present on the occasion. On Saturday, Maken had met Dikshit and sought her advice a day before taking over the new assignment.

“The party can stage a comeback by sticking to truth,” he said, even as hundreds of party workers wore caps with slogans ‘truth in public service’, the new motto of the party.

He  cited the BJP’s drubbing in the Assembly polls after it had swept all seven Lok Sabha seats in May last. While the BJP won just three seats, the Congress failed to win even a single seat in the 70-member Assembly.

The BJP lost due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “false promises”, including ones on black money, he said. The non-assumption of a portfolio by Kejriwal indicated his tendency to run away from responsibility, he said.

“The AAP government would be well advised to start fulfilling its promises by performing rather than coming out with advertisements,” he said. “The government would do well to start delivering on bijli-paani and Wi-Fi and start the process of transparent governance by allowing the media into the Delhi Secretariat,” Maken said.

Maken said the BJP has been thoroughly exposed through its unfulfilled promise of bringing back Rs 15 lakh to every citizen’s account and also through auctioning Modi’s Rs 10 lakh suit.

Maken said the non-appointment of CVC, CIC and Lokpal even after 10 months of the central government’s rule indicated nothing but encouragement to corruption.