BackSheila Dikshit is Congress chief ministerial candidate for UP assembly polls
The move is part of the Congress party's bid to win back Brahmin vote base, and marks the former Delhi chief minister's return to active politics
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New Delhi: In a break from the past, the Congress party on Thursday made an announcement to the effect that the former chief minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit, would be its chief ministerial candidate in the upcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.
The announcement not only marks Dikshit’s return to active politics, but is also an attempt by the Congress to win back its traditional Brahmin vote base in the state. Brahmins constitute a significant share of voters in Uttar Pradesh and play a key role in its politics.
Interestingly, the Congress, which has been out of power in Uttar Pradesh since 1989 when N.D. Tiwari was chief minister, has for the first time announced a chief ministerial candidate in the state.
Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh are due in early 2017.
The announcement of Dikshit’s name is significant because the Congress is focusing on Uttar Pradesh to revive its fortunes in north India. “Whether you call it the chief ministerial candidate or party’s face of the campaign, it will be Sheila Dikshit in Uttar Pradesh," Janardan Dwivedi, Congress general secretary, told reporters on Thursday.
The development comes two days after the Congress named actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar as chief of the party’s unit in Uttar Pradesh.
The party faces the tough task of rebuilding its organizational network in the state, having won only 28 seats in the 2012 assembly polls and managing a vote share of just 13.2%.
In the 2014 general election, it won just two seats—those of party chief Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi.
Dikshit said the prospect of leading the party in Uttar Pradesh was “exciting" and she was looking forward to the challenge. “Every challenge is different. Uttar Pradesh is a much bigger state than Delhi, but we will stay strong and the aim will be to win elections," she told reporters after the announcement.
Soon after her name was announced, the three-time chief minister of Delhi wasted no time in inviting Priyanka Gandhi to campaign for the party in Uttar Pradesh. “I will again urge her to campaign for Congress. Her style of politics is liked by all workers of Congress, and it will definitely help the party," she said.
Refuting charges of corruption against her, Dikshit said, “I have not received any summons from anti-corruption bureau (ACB). These allegations are politically motivated. I have maintained for long that there is no truth to these allegations and I will again reiterate that the allegations are baseless and politically motivated."
The Delhi ACB on Thursday sent her a notice over allegations of involvement in the ₹ 400 crore Delhi Jal Board water tanker scam of 2012. Dikshit was also chairperson of the board at the time. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Delhi government last year formed a committee to probe the irregularities.
In response to questions on allegations of corruption against Dikshit during the 2010 Commonwealth Games, leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Congress’s Uttar Pradesh in-charge, Ghulam Nabi Azad, told reporters: “There are several allegations of corruption against Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra chief ministers. If all the three CMs resign on the basis of allegations against them, we will withdraw our candidate as well."
Apart from Dikshit, the Congress also announced a list of coordination committee members for the assembly polls. The list has names of leaders belonging to Brahmin, Rajput, Muslim and Dalit communities—once the traditional and core voter base of the Congress in the state.
The names of senior Congress leaders and former ministers in the list indicate the party wants to project a collective leadership in Uttar Pradesh under Dikshit.
“Congress is a party which has lost its gravitas in Uttar Pradesh and is now banking on a caste configuration in Dikshit. Brahmins are the only community not represented by other parties; and so, the Congress sees an opportunity there," Jai Mrug, a Mumbai-based political analyst said.
“In my opinion, how can a chief minister who herself had a discrediting defeat in Delhi and lost touch with her home state, Uttar Pradesh, for more than 20 years, now be made a chief ministerial candidate," he asked.
Dikshit had been a member of Parliament from Uttar Pradesh between 1984 and 1989, representing Kannauj. Her name is said to have been proposed by political strategist Prashant Kishor, who is handling the Congress’s campaign in the state.
Congress leaders believe she can help the party focus on a development agenda and also pose a challenge to Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati.
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