Cong names Sheila as CM face to woo back Brahmins
The Congress on Thursday named former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit as chief ministerial candidate for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls scheduled for early next year. Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is incharge of party affairs in UP, said Dikshit was chosen as party’s face for the polls considering her strong credentials as Chief Minister of Delhi for three consecutive terms.
It has been widely reported that election strategist Prashant Kishor had recommended Dikshit should be projected as CM face to attract Congress traditional Brahmin vote bank, which has over the years shifted to its rivals.
Reacting to the development, the BJP said a “retired” leader has been projected so that she can be “blamed for the certain loss” of Gandhi scions — Rahul and Priyanka — in the State and dubbed the party as a sinking ship.
Dikshit’s elevation has also sparked fresh buzz in the saffron party over whether it will also name a chief ministerial candidate as all other major parties — the SP, the BSP and the Congress — will join the fray with their pick for the top post.
Born in a Punjabi Khatri family, Dikshit, 78, is the daughter-in-law of late Congress veteran from UP Uma Shankar Dikshit, a tall Brahmin leader who had served as a Union Minister and Governor for a long time. Her 15-year tenure in Delhi as CM ended with the emergence of the AAP in 2013 polls in which the Congress lost power.
Announcement of Dikshit’s name as CM nominee came days after the party appointed actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar as 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,” said Dikshit, who had also served as Kerala Governor.
Acknowledging that it will be “major challenge” for her in UP, Dikshit said the Congress will go to the polls with confidence and that the party will take on the BJP, the ruling Samajwadi Party and the 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”.
The Congress feels making Dikshit, a Brahmin, the face of campaign in Uttar Pradesh will help the party win back support of the community. The Brahmin community, a traditional vote bank of Congress, had shifted allegiance to the BJP in the aftermath of the Mandir-Mandal politics.
A large chunk of Brahmin votes had also gone to Mayawati’s BSP in the past when she gave tickets to many candidates belonging to the community. The community’s support determines the poll outcome in several seats in central and eastern UP.
BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma said BJP’s face was development and other parties were doing a debate on the chief ministerial nominee to dilute its plank of progress and good governance. “She is almost 80 and a retired and elderly leader. There were first reports about Rahul Gandhi being his party’s face in UP and then Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was projected. Now they have named Dikshit. She has been projected so that she could be blamed for the certain loss Rahul and Priyanka will suffer in the State,” he said.