New Delhi: Congress Delhi chief Ajay Maken resigned from his post on Friday citing health reasons. However, there seems more to the story than meets the eye as the development comes close on the heels of former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit expressed her desire to return to politics. 

Given the tumultuous relation that Maken has had in the past with Dikshit and the possibility of an alliance between the Congress and the Aam Admi Party (AAP) in Delhi could have spelt the script for the tall mass leader’s exit. 

MyNation delves into the most probable reasons why Maken hung his towel. 

Internal Rift

Dikshit, on December 15, said that she was willing to assume the responsibility as the party chief if the high command wanted her to do so. Her remark came after Maken announced that he was not keeping well lately.

Though it was believed that Dikshit would not re-join politics after the debacle in the Delhi Assembly elections 2013 where AAP defeated her by over 5,000 votes and her recent heart surgery, she, putting all rumours to rest, said that she would not hesitate to come back to politics.

Maken and Dikshit have had a long history of disagreements. Maken was once a protégé of Dikshit but they had a fallout after she was interested only to promote her son Sandeep over other young leaders.

Following this rift, Maken was elevated to Union Minister in UPA I and II. In 2015, Dikshit squarely pinned the blame for the debacle in the Delhi Assembly elections on him.

"I pity him... that's all I can say... Maken was the campaign head, it should have been aggressive, he should have conveyed the work done by party. He lost focus and never took us along," Dikshit had said, adding that last-minute changes by the campaign committee hurt the party. “Ajay Maken coming in, Lovely not contesting, confused the Congress workers," she had added.

Meanwhile, Maken took responsibility for the electoral drubbing and stepped down from the post of general secretary of the Congress party.

A known Sonia Gandhi-loyalist, Dikshit said that she would soon approach the UPA chairperson to discuss ways to revive the party in Delhi.

AAP Factor

Maken upset the central leadership after he expressed his displeasure over a possible tie-up between the Congress and AAP for the upcoming Lok Sabha poll. He said that AAP wanted the Congress’s support in order to save its sinking ship in politics.

The Congress’s Delhi chief took to Twitter to announce his resignation. He expressed his gratitude to party chief Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Congress workers and the media.

Dikshit, however, held out in the public that she was ready to ally with the AAP if the party would so want. “It's the high command which has to take a decision. Whatever its decision, I am not going to question it,” she had added.

Multiple attempts to resign

In September 2018, an alleged rumour spread that Maken stepped down from his post. However, Congress leader PC Chacko clarified that Maken didn’t resign but went for a medical check-up after informing about his health condition to Gandhi.

Back in 2017, Maken submitted his resignation to former party president, Sonia Gandhi following Congress performed poorly in the Delhi Civic Polls. However, Rahul Gandhi, who was the party Vice-President then, revoked his resignation.