In what comes as a fresh blow for the Congress in Delhi, the local Mahila Congress chief Barkha Singh quit the party on Thursday after levelling charges of harassment against the party’s Delhi unit chief Ajay Maken and describing party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi as “unfit” to lead.

Barkha Singh’s departure comes just days after another important local leader, former Delhi Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely, left the party to join the BJP with 10 other senior leaders.

Addressing a press conference here, Barkha Singh, who was appointed Delhi Mahila Congress chief in 2015 after serving for a long time as chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women, accused Ajay Maken of “abusing and harassing” women workers in the party. She said Rahul Gandhi is more keen on “partying” than paying heed to the party’s affairs. “During the Navratras on March 28, I along with a number of other women workers who were fasting, tried to meet Rahul Gandhi. But we were rudely told that he did not care about Navratras and told us to go home. The same night, he was partying at Shangri La Hotel,” she said, flashing a video showing Rahul Gandhi in a hotel.

The former chief of the Delhi Commission for Women said Ajay Maken “misbehaved” with her and other women workers and they have no recourse as their repeated pleas to Rahul Gandhi to intervene have fallen on deaf ears.

‘Unfit to lead’

“It is sheer hypocrisy that when Vinay Katiyar (BJP leader) makes absurd remarks about Priyanka Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi’s office expects us to protest. But when we complain of Ajay Maken abusing and threatening us, we are told to take the matter up with Maken,” she said. In her resignation letter to the Congress President Sonia Gandhi, she accused Rahul Gandhi of “hiding” from party workers. “The one pertinent question we need to ask is why is Rahul Gandhi hiding? Why is he scared of meeting party workers who ask him questions,” she said. Singh claimed that senior leaders of the party are of the opinion that Rahul Gandhi is “unfit” to lead the Congress.

Former Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit described the development as “unfortunate”.

Shiela Dikshit, a successful three-term Chief Minister credited with transforming the city’s infrastructure, too has been critical of Ajay Maken. “The Delhi Congress Chief is not able to reach out to leaders as needed. That is also a reason for people leaving the party,” she said.

Civic polls

The Congress’ faultlines are exposed at a time when there is a keen contest for the three civic bodies which go to polls on April 23. In the Assembly elections in 2015, the AAP secured 54.34 per cent votes and 67 of the total 70 seats in Delhi. BJP got 32.19 per cent vote but managed to get only three seats. The Congress’ vote share plummeted to 9.65 per cent and it failed to win a single seat in the Capital where it had been in power for three successive terms under Shiela Dikshit’s stewardship.

In this backdrop, winning the three corporations in Delhi is a prestige issue for the three main contestants. Congress’ implosions do not augur well at this critical juncture.