New Delhi, April 26: A defeat that was so predictable has exposed the ruptures within the Congress.

Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken resigned as the results of the municipal elections came in today, saying he wanted to set an "example for accountability".

But his critics were unsparing, terming his exit inevitable because he had burnt his bridges with most senior leaders who, they said, were itching to take revenge.

It is not clear whether Maken's resignation will be accepted as party vice-president Rahul Gandhi had invested heavily in his leadership.

Maken, though, appeared firm. "My decision is final. I want to set an example for accountability," he told The Telegraph. "I will not accept any post for one year."

The saga of disunity had started unfolding well before the April 23 vote, faction rivalries and defections overshadowing the party's revival chant.

Although the Congress's vote share went up by 12 per cent - if the 2015 Assembly elections where the party drew a blank are taken as the benchmark - a smooth sailing was almost impossible for Maken as quite a few senior leaders were upset with his style of functioning.

Some of them had registered their protests in the run-up to the election, while a few quit the party.

"It is unfortunate we could not exploit the strong anti-incumbency against both the BJP and the AAP. It was a good opportunity but we could not win back our traditional supporters," former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit said.

The Congress won 29 of the 270 wards across the three municipalities - North Delhi, South Delhi and East Delhi - finishing third after the BJP (183) and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's AAP (47).

"We could have projected a united face and aggressively communicated with the voters. Some leaders left the party just before the election and that affected the discourse," Dikshit added.

While many leaders, including former minister and state unit chief Arvinder Singh Lovely, defected to the BJP, citing issues with the leadership of Rahul Gandhi and Maken, others like A.K. Walia and Sandeep Dikshit dissented from within.

Sources said the list of disgruntled leaders was endless, including Dikshit, Jai Prakash Agarwal, Kapil Sibal, Haroon Yusuf, Yoganand Shastri, Jai Kishan, Subhash Chopra and Kamal Kant Sharma.

The main complaint against Maken was that he never tried to unite the various factions or compromise with rivals. "Maken acted like a solo traveller, presuming that he could revive the party by ignoring all senior leaders," one leader said. "This is a disease in the Congress; Bhupinder Singh Hooda did the same in Haryana, Harish Rawat did it in Uttarakhand.

Leaders start taking party as personal fiefs."

Dikshit said: "What is the meaning of internal democracy? That you listen, you talk, you try to take the maximum number of people along. The first duty of a leader is to make a serious attempt to unite the party, to create a collective sense of purpose.... When our old colleagues left the party, we all were sad. It hurt."

Sibal, former MP from Chandni Chowk, said there were "many factors" for the defeat. "Division of votes between the Congress and the AAP is one big factor. Then internal issues damaged our prospects. Unless you carry local leaders along and fight collectively, workers can't be enthused. It is unfortunate Sheila Dikshit did not campaign."

Asked why he did not campaign, Sibal said: "I was not asked."

Asked why Sibal had not been engaged while the likes of Shashi Tharoor and Jairam Ramesh campaigned in Chandni Chowk, Maken said: "It was not my son's marriage that people will come only on invitation. You represented a constituency and you are supposed to work there.... I can tell you, all the ex-MPs, including Sandeep Dikshit, Sibal, Jai Prakash Agarwal, were consulted before ticket distribution. They were supposed to ensure that candidates of their choice won."

Many Delhi leaders said Maken gave importance to only two former MPs - Sajjan Kumar, whose relatives lost badly, and Mahabal Mishra.

It is an open secret that the Dikshit faction worked against Maken's dominance and many of Sandeep's supporters contested against party nominees.