The insignificance of being Ajay Maken

There was once a time when Congress Spokesperson Ajay Maken was pressed with the daunting task of complying with Supreme Court’s order of converting Delhi transport into CNG. He earned worldwide accolades for being successful in that work.

As power minister, he brought power reforms. Same happened when he was sports minister. He introduced Sports Bill in order to bring overall transparency and administrative reforms in sports.  Delhi master plan in fact flourished when he was urban development minister.

But his diminutive role in Congress now has raised questions over his insignificance.

Just a few days ago, Rahul Gandhi, who has a lesser stint and experience in politics than Maken, crashed his press conference. He went on calling the conversation that he held after “calling” him in his office, along with the ordinance which Maken was to defend as Congress spokesperson, as “nonsense”.

Today, when the news of Priyanka Gandhi possibly taking over campaigning for the party arrived, there was no second guess as to who would have said this.

But, the “close source to Mrs Gandhi” or the “senior leader”, as Lakshmi Choudhary dubs him in his article, denied it vehemently.

“We completely deny the reports that Priyanka Gandhi will be campaigning in the 2014 elections,” declared an irate Maken, “condemning” news channels that carried the report. He even threw in a conspiracy theory: “The news is being used to suppress the news about how Madhya Pradesh government has failed to handle the stampede in a temple.”

The work of Maken has just reduced to clearing up the mess that Congress creates, that too taking the dagger on him. His talent and brain is surely going waste saving the first family’s face at every instance.

With Priyanka’s already failed performance in last assembly elections in UP, where Congress lost its very own four seats in Rae Bareli and eight seats in Amethi and Sultanpur, Congress should not even think about her campaigning again.

Also, her presence only diminishes Rahul Gandhi’s lacklusture figure further.

Maybe this was Maken’s way of telling the truth and showing his presence.