Maken withdraws his resignation as Delhi Congress chief

New Delhi, May 3 (IANS) Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken on Wednesday said he has withdrawn his resignation that he had submitted to party President Sonia Gandhi after the Congress' "unsatisfactory performance" in the recent Delhi civic polls.

Maken, who had also submitted his resignation to Rahul Gandhi, said the Congress Vice President told him that the party had increased its vote share compared with the Delhi assembly polls of 2015.

"Rahulji told me to continue as Delhi Congress chief as results in the elections are encouraging and we have managed to increase our vote share from nine per cent to 22 per cent," Maken told reporters.

Rahul Gandhi also told him to keep striving towards bringing the party back to "number one" position in Delhi, he said.

Maken said the Rajouri Garden assembly by-election and the Delhi Municipal Corporations elections had clearly proved that the traditional support base of the party was returning to it.

Besides Maken, P.C. Chacko, in charge of Congress affairs in Delhi, had also resigned owning moral responsibility for the party's performance in Delhi's civic polls. But, their resignations were not accepted.

The Congress won 30 of 270 seats in the civic polls and finished third, after the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Aam Aadmi Party.