Congress looks for new chiefs in Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal and Mumbai

India वोट Kar | October 31, 2018

Congress begins search for new chiefs to head party units in five states

The Congress has started looking for new heads for its Mumbai, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh units, according to a party functionary aware of the process. The aim is to end infighting in some units and give others a fresh start. The party is out of power in all these places, and the new chiefs’ first job would be to rebuild the organisation before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Delhi

Delhi chief Ajay Maken, who went abroad last month for a medical check-up, has told the leadership it will be hard for him to carry on. “I have informed the leadership about my health concerns,” he said. Maken, who opposed an alliance with the AAP, became Delhi chief in March 2015, replacing Arvinder Singh Lovely, who moved to the BJP in April 2017 and came back in February.

One view in the party favours former chief minister Sheila Dikshit as chief, with three working presidents from the Muslim, Jat and Bania communities; she said she knew nothing about it. Another section wants someone open to a tie-up with the AAP, which the central leadership is said to favour in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab. Names discussed include Mahabal Mishra, Sandeep Dikshit, Sharmistha Mukherjee and Devender Yadav. Mishra is well known among Purvanchalis, who make up about 3-4 million of Delhi’s roughly 20 million people and can sway at least 30 of its 70 assembly seats; there are 12 Purvanchali legislators in the current assembly.

Punjab, Haryana and Mumbai

Punjab chief Sunil Jakhar plans to contest Gurdaspur again in 2019 and may have little time for the organisation. In Haryana, a feud between state chief Ashok Tanwar, in post since February 2014, and Bhupinder Singh Hooda, a former chief minister, has fuelled infighting that the functionary said could hurt the party in next year’s assembly polls. Tanwar said he had strengthened the party over four years and the leadership would decide. Hooda’s supporters want him named chief, while Kumari Selja has also emerged as a contender. No successor has been named for Kamal Nath as Haryana in-charge since he became Madhya Pradesh chief in April.

In Mumbai, chief Sanjay Nirupam, who had a bitter feud with the late Gurudas Kamat, may be replaced; former MPs Milind Deora and Priya Dutt are among the names being considered.

Himachal Pradesh

Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, chief since April 2013, offered to quit after the defeat in the December 2017 election but was asked to stay on. Kuldeep Rathore, a Rajput from Upper Himachal, is seen as a likely successor to balance caste and region, since legislature party leader Mukesh Agnihotri is a Brahmin from lower Himachal.

What happened next

In the 2019 Haryana election the BJP won 40 seats and the Congress 31; Manohar Lal Khattar remained Chief Minister. Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu later became Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh after the Congress won 40 seats in 2022.

Originally published on 31 October 2018. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.