Maken, Chacko quit after Congress debacle in Delhi

New Delhi, Feb 10: Congress' chief ministerial aspirant Ajay Maken Tuesday quit as the party's general secretary after he lost from Sadar Bazar while his party suffered a rout in the Delhi assembly elections. In a subsequent move, the Delhi in-charge P.C. Chacko also stepped down from office. "Yes, both the leaders (Maken and Chacko) have resigned. Maken's resignation is subject to approval from the party high command (party president Sonia Gandhi). "Chacko's resignation is a mere formality as his term was supposed to end after the Delhi polls," party official Tom Vadakkan told IANS. Maken, who was relegated to the third position with 16,331 votes Tuesday, was up against incumbent Som Dutt Sharma of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Praveen Jain of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a constituency that was a Congress bastion for three consecutive terms until Rajesh Jain lost it to the AAP in the 2013 polls. Sharma reclaimed Sadar Bazar, the largest wholesale market in the national capital, with 67,507 votes. "I take responsibility for the results and have decided to resign as general secretary of the Congress," Maken said.