‘Brahmin’ Sheila Dikshit is Congress’ CM face in UP

The Congress party on Thursday played the “Brahmin” card, projecting senior leader and three-time Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit as its candidate for chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, where Assembly elections are due next year. Congress strategists say the move will mount pressure on the BJP to project a face for the post of CM in UP against the ruling Samajwadi Party and the BSP, besides the Congress.

The AICC’s announcement of its CM candidate eight months before the polls makes it clear it is taking the battle seriously. Brahmins, Muslims and dalits used to be the winning combination of the grand old party in UP. While dalits switched over to the BSP, the Muslim vote split between the SP and the BSP after the Mandal and Mandir agitations in the 1990s.

Ms Dikshit, however, will not contest the UP Assembly polls, the party clarified. Ms Dikshit said she would go into the polls in UP with “conviction and confidence” about resurrecting the party’s fortunes in the state. Thanking the Congress leadership for giving her a “big responsibility”, she said Ms Priyanka Gandhi would be a “very big asset” for the party whose workers want her to campaign vigorously in UP.

The AICC is acting on the script of election strategist Prashant Kishor, engaged for the UP election. Mr Kishor wanted the Congress to fight the battle under either Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi or Sheila Dikshit. Congress managers rejected the idea of making Mr Gandhi or his sister Priyanka the party’s face in UP but agreed to project Ms Dikshit, who governed Delhi as chief minister for 15 years without a break.

Thursday’s announcement could shift the focus from Ms Priyanka Gandhi to the state leaders who will face the BJP, BSP and SP.

The Congress, which believes the caste factor always works in UP (rather than the development plank), has played the Brahmin card to try and dent the BJP’s upper-caste support base on one hand and, on the other, to attract minorities and dalits to it, to some extent. Ms Sheila Dikshit (78) is perhaps the only credible face it can use to attempt this.

The Congress is not bothered about corruption charges against her in the `400-crore water tanker scam because top SP and BSP leaders also face such charges. AICC general secretary in charge of UP Ghulam Nabi Azad, responding to reporters’ questions, said the government or an investigating agency should first conduct an inquiry into corruption charges against the current CMs of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and some Central and Maharashtra ministers of the BJP. “This is malicious propaganda unleashed by the BJP and AAP,” he said.

Mr Azad clarified that though the Congress does not announce CM candidates before elections for fear of inciting factional infighting, the declaring of Ms Dikshit’s name was an “exception”.

The AICC now cannot delay announcing the party’s CM candidate in Punjab, which will go to the polls in the next six months. Although the Punjab Congress chief, Capt. Amarinder Singh, is seen as the party’s CM candidate, it is yet to be formally announced.

AICC general secretary in charge of the organisation Janardan Dwivedi made the formal announcement regarding Ms Sheila Dikshit at a press conference.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday constituted the campaign committee and coordination committee for the UP polls. AICC spokesman and former Union minister R.P.N. Singh has been made a senior vice-president of the Uttar Pradesh Congress. While Dr Sanjay Sinh (sitting RS member from Assam) will be the chairman of the six-member campaign committee, Mr Pramod Tiwari is the new chairman of the 11-member coordination committee.

The campaign committee consists of Zafar Ali Naqvi (convenor), Jitin Prasada, Abdul Mannan Ansari, Gayadin Anuragi and Bijendra Singh (vice-chairman), while the coordination committee comprises Mohsina Kidwai, Salman Khurshid, Sriprakash Jaiswal, Rajiv Shukla, Rita Bahuguna, Salim Sherwani, Pradip Jain Aditya, P.L. Punia, Nirmal Khatri and Pradeep Mathur (all members).

Commenting on her new role, Ms Dikshit said, “I wish to fulfil the responsibility sincerely and help the Congress improve its performance. We will fight the polls together. The demand for Congress’ return to power in the state is rising.” She added: “Every election is a challenge. Sometimes it is big, sometimes small. And all challenges are not the same. The challenge is big in UP and we will go into the elections with the conviction that we are certainly going to win.”

On the Delhi Anti-Corruption Branch sending her a notice asking her to join the investigation in connection with the alleged Rs 400-crore water tanker scam, Ms Dikshit said, “The allegations are politically motivated. There is no evidence.”