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UP polls: Cong banks on Sheila’s credentials, names her CM face

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is in-charge of the party affairs in Uttar Pradesh, said Dikshit was chosen as the party’s face for the polls, considering her strong credentials as Delhi Chief Minister for three consecutive terms.

Election strategist Prashant Kishor had recommended that Dikshit should play a major role in the party’s poll campaign in the state, projecting her as a prominent Brahmin face and could help Congress regain support of the electorally sizeable community.

Born in a Punjabi Khatri family, Dikshit, 78, is the daughter-in-law of late Congress veteran from UP Uma Shankar Dikshit, a well-known Brahmin leader in UP, who had also served as a Union minister and Governor for a long time.

Her 15-year tenure as Delhi CM ended with the emergence of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the 2013 polls, in which the Congress lost power. The announcement of Dikshit’s name as CM nominee came days after the party appointed actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar the chief of the Congress in UP.

“Her experience and good work were considered as her big credentials by the party,” Azad told a joint media briefing with party leader Janardan Dwivedi. The party also announced coordination and campaign committees for Uttar Pradesh which will be headed by Sanjay Singh and Pramod Tiwari respectively.

On her part, Dikshit thanked the party leadership for entrusting her with such a “big responsibility”, adding she would like to have Priyanka Gandhi campaign with her across the state. “She (Priyanka) is a very popular leader. My plea would be that she campaign across the state,” Dikshit said. 

Acknowledging that it will be “major challenge” for her in UP, Dikshit said Congress will go to the polls with confidence and that the party will take on BJP, ruling Samajwadi Party and BSP equally.

Announcement of Dikshit's nomination came on a day the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) of Delhi sent a notice to her asking her to join the investigation in connection with the alleged Rs 400-crore water tanker scam. Dikshit called the allegation “politically motivated”.

Asked why Dikshit who is facing corruption charges against her has been projected, Azad said corruption charges are there against chief ministers of Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, and many BJP ministers in Maharashtra.

“If these three chief ministers are ready to resign, then we are ready to take back her name,” he said, adding BJP is not taking any action on the allegations against its chief ministers.

Will fight with conviction; Rahul and Priyanka could be big asset in crucial polls: Sheila
Making a comeback to active politics after a gap of two-and-a-half years, Sheila Dikshit on Thursday said as the Congress’ chief ministerial face she would go to the polls in Uttar Pradesh with “conviction and confidence” about resurrecting the party's fortunes in the state.

Thanking the Congress leadership for giving her the “big responsibility”, 78-year-old Dikshit said, adding that Priyanka Gandhi could be a “very big asset” for the party, whom workers want to campaign vigorously in the state, where polls are slated early next year.  Dikshit, who led Congress to three consecutive victories in Delhi Assembly polls in 1998, 2003 and 2008 before facing a humiliating drubbing in 2013, losing even her own seat, said she was ready for the “big fight” in the politically crucial state where “demand” for Congress' return to power was “rising”.

“I wish to fulfil the responsibility sincerely and help Congress improve its performance. We will fight the polls together. The demand for Congress’ return to power in the state is rising,” she said. The three-time Delhi Chief Minister, who used to be the darling of the middle class in the national Capital, said both Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi could play an important role in the UP polls but any final decision will have to be taken by the Congress high command.

“It is a big challenge and I am up for it. We will face the electorate with conviction and confidence,” she said. After the crushing defeat in Delhi assembly in December 2013, Dikshit was almost out of active politics.

She was appointed governor of Kerala by the UPA government in March 2014, just before the model code of conduct came into force for the Lok Sabha polls, and she had resigned from the post in August that year. 

Asked how she will help the party in UP where it has lost its support base significantly, Dikshit said, “Every election is a challenge. Sometimes it is big, sometimes small. And all challenges are not the same. Challenge is big in UP and we will go into the elections with the conviction that we are certainly going to win.” 
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