New Delhi: The Congress has fielded Sandeep Dikshit, son of former Delhi chief minister late Sheila Dikshit, from the New Delhi assembly constituency in the upcoming polls, setting up a potential contest between him and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal.
Kejriwal has won the seat thrice since 2013, when he defeated Sheila Dikshit, bringing the curtains down on her 15-year run as chief minister.
The decision to field Sandeep Dikshit, a two-term MP from East Delhi parliamentary constituency, was taken at a meeting of Congress’s Central Election Committee chaired by party president Mallikarjun Kharge and attended by senior MP Rahul Gandhi, among others, during which the names of 21 candidates for the Delhi assembly polls were finalised.
The decision by the Congress to field Sandeep Dikshit against Kejriwal also puts a lid on speculation that the party was still hopeful of a tie-up with INDIA bloc ally AAP in Delhi.
It is also an attempt, yet again, by the Congress to reclaim the legacy of Sheila Dikshit in Delhi. Even in 2020, when it drew a blank in the assembly polls for the second time in a row, the Congress had banked on the late Congress stalwart to revive its fortunes in what was once its citadel. The party’s campaign song in 2020 had a line, “Ek Dilli thi vo jo Sheila ne khud se sawari tha. Fir se Congress wali Dilli…”
Dikshit is widely credited with changing the face of Delhi through several infrastructural initiatives including flyovers, roads, and the Delhi Metro, in close coordination with the Union government.
However, after getting dislodged from power, she found herself sidelined in the party as alleged irregularities during the 2010 Commonwealth Games sullied her image. As the Opposition AAP and BJP used it to corner the Congress, the latter nearly abandoned her.
In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, the Congress projected her as its chief ministerial face. However, ahead of the polls, after the party struck an alliance with the Samajwadi Party, she withdrew from the race for chief ministership.
In 2019, she contested the Lok Sabha polls from the Northeast Delhi constituency, finishing second behind BJP’s Manoj Tiwari. Later that year, she passed away at the age of 81.
Among other names to have been cleared by the Congress CEC include Devender Yadav, who is the incumbent Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief, and Anil Chaudhary, a former chief of the party’s Delhi unit.
Yadav has been fielded from Badli, a constituency he represented from 2008 till 2015, when he lost to AAP’s Ajesh Yadav, while Chaudhary will contest from Patparganj, which had elected him as an MLA in 2008, against AAP’s Avadh Ojha, who rose to fame as an UPSC tutor.
Congress spokesperson Ragini Nayak will contest from Wazirpur, while Haroon Yusuf, who served as a minister in the Sheila Dikshit cabinet, will contest from the Ballimaran constituency that comes under the Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha segment.
But the battle in New Delhi will be the one keenly watched, particularly because of Sandeep Dikshit’s stinging critique of Kejriwal in the past. He has consistently opposed any attempt by the Congress to tie-up with AAP.
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