NEW DELHI: Five weeks after the demise of Sheila Dikshit, parleys have begun to pick a new president
for the Congress unit in the national capital.
Dikshit, a three-time Delhi chief minister and senior Congress leader, passed away on July 20.
Party president Sonia Gandhi held a discussion in this regard with All India Congress Committee (AICC) incharge of Delhi, PC Chacko, and district presidents separately on Tuesday to discuss selection of a new head for the state unit.
Chacko said selection of the new president of Delhi Congress was discussed in the meeting and added that a ‘local’ leader would be chosen for the post.
“The Congress chief instructed me to seek feedback from senior party leaders, including former Delhi unit presidents and MPs, among others, for finding the right person to fill the post,” Chacko said.
Sonia held separate meetings with Chacko and presidents of district Congress units.
“The district Congress presidents also held a meeting with Sonia ji. Selection of a new president of Delhi Congress was discussed in the meeting. I will meet her again after gathering feedback in the next few days,” he said.
Chacko rejected media reports suggesting the names of Navjot Singh Sidhu and Shatrughan Sinha as probables for the post of Delhi Congress president.
“All such reports are mere conjecture. The next Delhi Congress president will be from Delhi,” he said.
The Congress is endeavouring to select a suitable president to head the party in Delhi, which is scheduled to go for Assembly polls early next year.
The Congress, which ruled Delhi from 1998 to 2013, failed to win a single seat in 2015.
Earlier this month, Sonia had met Delhi Congress leaders after taking over as interim president of the party.
Delhi Congress leaders said it will be a “difficult” exercise to find a replacement for Dikshit, who had led the Congress despite her age in Lok Sabha elections, in which the party pushed the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party to third place in five of the seven constituencies, besides getting more votes than AAP.
“Several names are doing rounds for the post. All three working presidents Rajesh Lilothia, Haroon Yusuf and Devender Yadav are there. Also, seniors like former presidents of Delhi Congress like JP Agarwal and Subhash Chopra could be made the president,” said a party functionary.
Sources said Agarwal, a former Delhi state president, was reluctant to take the charge due to his advanced age.