Ajay Maken replaces Pawan Bansal as Congress’ new treasurer
New Delhi, October 1
The Congress on Sunday appointed senior Delhi leader and former general secretary Ajay Maken as All India Congress Committee treasurer replacing ex-railway minister and former Chandigarh Lok Sabha MP Pawan Kumar Bansal.
An order issued by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said the party appreciated Bansal’s services.
Bansal was appointed AICC treasurer in December 2020 on an interim basis but has continued in the position for nearly three years now.
Importantly, Bansal had not been attending AICC treasurer’s office ever since his exclusion from the regular membership of the reconstituted Congress Working Committee unveiled by party president Mallikarjun Kharge on August 20 this year.
Bansal was placed among permanent invitees with several general secretaries finding a place among regular members.
Sources say Bansal had made it known to the top Congress brass that his exclusion from the key CWC segment had made his position as treasurer untenable besides also compromising the dignity of the AICC treasurer’s office.
It is rare, almost unprecedented for the AICC treasurer to not be among CWC regular members, a Congress source says, citing the position of the treasurer as next only to Congress President’s in party’s protocol.
Bansal had been signing papers but not attending office, following what many saw as an exceptional downgrade of a treasurer’s position by way of his exclusion from the regular CWC which includes G23 leaders Anand Sharma, Shashi Tharoor and former deputy chief minister of Rajasthan Sachin Pilot.
