Sheila too resigns, Cong looks for her replacement

Following suit of other state party chiefs, Delhi Congress president Sheila Dikshit has submitted her resignation owning responsibility for the Lok Sabha poll debacle in the national capital.

The party is now looking at young leaders who could lead the party in Delhi.

Sheila has sent her resignation to Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who remains adamant not to continue as the Congress president.

No decision has been taken on her letter.

Sources said that the party has to find Sheila's replacement even if she is keen to continue, as the Delhi unit needs a younger face who can "run around the city, mobilise funds and energise cadre".

Sheila (81), who was in semi-retirement, was brought to lead the party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

She fought the North East Delhi seat but lost to Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari by a massive margin of 3.66 lakh votes.

Sources said that at present, the party cannot zero in on a face and it may not be feasible to repeat former presidents Ajay Maken, J P Aggarwal and Arvinder Singh Lovely, who all lost in the recent Lok Sabha elections.

"What we need is a new and younger face, who is known to Delhiites. At present, we don't have such a name to suggest," a senior Congress leader told DH.

Sources said that there will be no question of reviving the talks about alliance with Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP for the Delhi Assembly elections early next year.

"We expect that at least three MLAs from AAP will be joining us within the next week. Discussions are on and you could even see the results in the next three days," the leader said.

The assessment in the Congress is that it would be difficult for the AAP to regain the voters' trust.

According to Congress leaders, a large chunk of Muslim and Dalit votes that had gone to the AAP has returned to the party in the Lok Sabha election. “It will be difficult for the AAP to regain it (the Muslim and Dalit votes) again in eight months,” they said.