Former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit is all set to play a major role in deciding the tickets for the 70 Assembly seats for the upcoming elections. The Congress High Command has inducted Dikshit into the Election Committee of the Delhi Congress headed by Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh lovely. The Election Committee will select the candidates for the 70 seats for the upcoming Assembly polls. Sources said that Dikshit has been inducted in the Election Committee as former Chief Minister of Delhi who ruled the city for 15 years. The Congress announced the names of the committee members on Monday after getting a clearance from Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
The Congress High Command has also constituted Publicity Committee headed by former Congress legislative Party leader Haroon Yusuf, Manifesto Committee headed by former Delhi Finance Minister Dr Ashok Kumar Walia and Disciplinary Committee headed by Abhijeet Singh Gulati. Though the polls dates in Delhi have not been announced yet, the party has decided to make their house in order as soon as possible and start campaigning.
It is noted that senior Congress leader PC Chacko, who is all set to take over as the party’s in-charge of Delhi, called on Sheila Dikshit at her Nizamuddin East residence on Friday last week. There has been a growing demand in the Congress to bring in Dikshit as the party’s star campaigner for the upcoming Assembly elections.
It may be noted that Dikshit has made it clear that she is not going to contest the Assembly poll despite huge pressure from supporters to take charge of the party’s campaign. Many Congress leaders have personally approached Dikshit to campaign for them in their respective seats. Though the former Chief Minister has not given any formal assurance to any partymen, she has gone on record, saying that she would work for the welfare of her party till her last breath. At least six Congress leaders had earlier met Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, urging him to bring back Dikshit if the party is keen to improve performance in the upcoming elections.
Sources said that the Congress was now going to announce the members of its district and block committees, which had been dissolved after the party’s humiliating defeat in the last Assembly elections. Of the 70 Assembly seats, the Congress had managed to bag only eight seats. The party’s vote share fell further in the recent lok Sabha elections, in which it lost all the seven parliamentary seats. The Congress was logged at third position in all the 70 Assembly segments in the lok Sabha polls. While the BJP registered its victory in 60 Assembly segments, newbie AAP had swept the remaining 10 segments. There are indications that the party may reconstitute its Pradesh Committee only after announcing its district and block committees.