Veteran leader threatens to quit Cong over ticket
Battered and shattered Congress, which is trying hard to consolidate its vote bank in the upcoming municipal elections, got a major bolt on Monday with senior party leader and former minister A.K. Walia threatening to quit the party. He alleged irregularities in ticket distribution for the April 23 polls.
“I have written a letter to Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken, complaining against irregularities and violation of party rules in ticket distribution and if things do not change, I will quit the party,” Mr Walia said.
Sources said Mr Walia, who served as a state minister in the Sheila Dikshit government, was unhappy over the party cancelling the ticket given to a woman candidate and replacing her with another for the MCD elections.
The veteran Congressman has alleged that the party is ignoring “ground efforts by party workers” and fielding outsiders in his area in the MCD elections.
Dr Walia commands big support in East Delhi. As a medical doctor, he was the health minister in the Congress government in Delhi and has held several other portfolios in a long career.
Out of the 272 MCD seats, 210 tickets have been given to new faces; a majority of them are highly-educated youth.
Delhi Congress spokesperson Sharmistha Mukherjee said that though only 136 seats have been reserved for women, the DPCC has also fielded women from general wards by giving eight more seats, to take the number of women candidates in the fray for the MCD elections to 144.
Meanwhile, DPCC head Ajay Maken told this newspaper that party would wait and watch.
“This is not the first time something like this has happened. The AAP has been facing dissent as well. On this particular issue, the party will see. Lets wait,” he said.
Several other Congress leaders alleged irregularities in ticket distribution with former deputy speaker and three-time MLA Amrish Singh Gautam on Monday quitting party and joining the BJP.
The veteran politician’s threat to quit his party exposes deep differences in the party.