Ajay Maken

Ajay Makan
MP
Constituency	New Delhi
Personal details
Born	(1964-01-12) 12 January 1964 Delhi
Political party	INC
Spouse	Radhika Maken
Children	1 son and 2 daughters
Residence	New Delhi
As of September 16, 2006 Source: [1]

Ajay Makan (born 12 January, 1964) is a member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India. He represents the New Delhi constituency of Delhi and is a member of the Indian National Congress (INC) political party.

Ajay Maken is married to Radhika and has three children, Aarushi, Ahana and Aujaswi.

Ajay Maken surged in his political career after becoming the President of Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) in 1985. That was right after the killing of his uncle (father's younger brother) Lalit Maken & his wife by the Pro-Khalistan Sikh insurgents. The sympathy wave worked tremendously in favor of Ajay Maken and Congress party's student wing National Students Union of India (NSUI), which till then had performed unimpressively for many years in student elections.

While still the President of DUSU, Ajay Maken became a trade-union leader embracing the legacy of his uncle, a renowned trade union leader. He lead the employees of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) to indefinite strike which failed miserably. Public's outrage against the rude and ill-mannered employees of DTC was already there, which resulted in the failure of strike and that was the beginning of the end of DTC in India's capital New Delhi.

The growth of Ajay Maken's political growth has been steady. In 1993 he became for the first time, a member of Legislative Assembly of Delhi as an Indian National Congress (INC), winning by a margin of around 4,000 votes. He won as a Congress Candidate from Delhi, when only 14 out of 70 Congress candidates could win the elections to Legislative Assembly of Delhi. He was the only congress candidate to secure more than 50% of the total votes polled. Rest of all the candidates won securing less than 50% votes.

Next time in 1998, Ajay Maken won again the assembly elections for the second time from the same constituency with a margin of around 20,000 votes securing around 70% of the total votes polled. This time his party Congress also came to power in Delhi. Sheila Dikshit was sworn in as the chief minister of Delhi. In these five years, one could see the administrative capabilities of Ajay Maken. In Feb 1999, at an age of 35, he became the Parliamentary Secretary to the Chief Minister. His performance in the Legislative Assembly was outstanding and he came closer to the chief minister as her principal troubleshooter and pointman. In Dec-2001 Ajay was rewarded the Transport, Power and Tourism Minister in the cabinet of Sheila Dikshit in December 2001. These were the most coveted and powerful portfolios, which brought to the fore administrative capabilities of Ajay Maken. Ajay Maken as Transport Minister is popularly known to have supported and implemented CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) based Public Transport System in Delhi. This led to improvement in Ambient Air Quality of Delhi, which now has more than 100,000 vehicles running on CNG fuel, which is highest in any city in the world. As a power minister, Mr Maken is credited with privatizing Electricity distribution in Delhi.

In Dec 2003, Ajay Maken won for the third consecutive time from the same Assembly Constituency by a record margin of 24,000 votes. He was promoted as the Speaker of Legislative Assembly of Delhi. At 39, he was the youngest Speaker of any State Assembly in the country.

In 2004 he became Member of Parliament (MP) after defeating the strong candidate of Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), sitting Cabinet Minister of Govt. Of India, Mr. Jagmohan from prestigious New Delhi Parliamentary constituency. Winning of Mr Maken assumes importance from the fact that the New Delhi Parliamentary Constituency has been a traditional BJP stronghold. It had in the past returned from this area, BJP stalwards like Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K.Advani.

Now Mr Ajay Maken is the Minister of State Of Urban Development, Government of India. He is the youngest minister from the Congress Party, to be sworn in the Council of Ministers in Indian Government. He has played a key role in finalising the Master Plan for New Delhi. In October 2007, Mr Ajay Maken was appointed as a permanent invitee to the Working Committee of AICC (All India Congress Committee). This being the highest decision making body of the Congress Party has enhanced his stature in the Party. From the Party, he has also been entrusted with the responsibility of important States like Orissa and Jharkhand.

External links

• Official biographical sketch in Parliament of India website