Delhi Congress leaders demand Chacko’s resignation over LS poll debacle

New Delhi, June 14 (IANS) Some Delhi Congress leaders on Friday demanded resignation of Congress General Secretary and Delhi in-charge P.C. Chacko following the party's dismal performance in the Lok Sabha polls.

Rohit Manchanda, a Congress candidate from Saket in 2003, who lost to BJP's Vijay Jolly by a margin of 116 votes told IANS, "I was in the party office to welcome Chacko ji. However, when he came to office, he said that party workers like me have no right to stand in the party office and we should be thrown out."

"I told him that you (Chacko) are misbehaving with me because I demanded your resignation," he said.

Manchanda said under Chacko, who was made the party in-charge for Delhi in 2014, the party has lost three straight elections (Assembly, civic bodies and Lok Sabha).

"If Rahul Gandhi can offer to resign from the party President's post taking moral responsibility for the party's defeat, why cannot Chacko step down?" he asked.

He said that when former Chief Minister and Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit can offer to resign, then why not Chacko.

He demanded party chief Rahul Gandhi, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra replace Chacko as in-charge with some other leader.

Another party leader, requesting anonymity, backed the claims of Manchanda and said that party workers are completely demoralised due to a series of poll defeats in Delhi, adding that Chacko must be replaced.

The Congress-ruled Delhi from 1998 to 2013. However, it was unable to win a single seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in Delhi as well as the Assembly election in 2015.

The party was pushed to the third place in the 2017 civic bodies polls while in the recently-concluded general election it again failed to win a single seat out of seven in the capital.

Meanwhile, despite repeated calls, Chacko did not respond.