New Delhi: Speculation is rife about three-time Delhi chief minister Shiela Dikshit's possible nomination as the Congress party's Rajya Sabha candidate from Haryana.
According to a PTI report, the Congress High Command is keen to "accommodate" Dikshit for her successful 15-year stint as the Delhi's chief minister. Ahead of the Delhi Assembly election in December, Dikshit had fended off questions about the possibility of her taking on national by directing the focus on outcome of the election results. She had, however, not ruled out taking on a national role saying that she was open to the idea.
Pre-2013 assembly election, Dikshit's winning streak had drawn comparisons to the other very successful chief minister and now BJP's prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi.
Sheila Dikshit. Reuters.
As India's longest serving woman chief minister, Dikshit had aggressively countered Modi's development model with her own track record in Delhi ahead of the Delhi elections.Seen as able administrator who saw through the successful transition of the public transport to CNG and the expansion of the ambitious Delhi metro, Dikshit had managed to winover Capital's middle class who voted for in significant numbers in the 2008 election.
But the final months of what was to be her final term saw an irreversible anti-incumbency wave that ended up almost wiping out Congress in assembly elections. Reduced from over 42 seats it won in 2008 to eight seats in 2014, Dikshit was faced with her worst electoral performance. The veteran Congress leader lost her New Delhi seat to Aam Admi Party's Arvind Kejrwal whoseincredible debut would see him succeed her as Delhi's Chief Minister.
The Congress party's rout in Delhi and Dikshit's shock defeat left a big question mark on Dikshit's political future. But the party is not known for abandoning its loyalists. Dikshit's closeness to Congress President Sonia Gandhi has held her in good stead and is likely to continue to do so.
Should the Congress announce Dikshit as their Rajya Sabha candidate from Haryana, it will mark the end of Dikshit era in Delhi and the beginning of a generational shift in the Congress leadership in Delhi.The transition in favour of younger faces in the Delhi Congress is already apparent with the appointment of the young and pro-active Arvinder Singh Lovely as Delhi state congress chief in the place of the older J P Aggarwal, who resigned from the post Delhi Pradesh Congress chief following the poll debacle.
The nomination, if should come through, will also rule out Dikshit as the face of the next election Congress will fight in Delhi, which looks likely to held sooner than later, if one were to go by the noises being made by expelled AAP MLA Vinod Kumar about the unrest within the party.
According to PTI, the party's candidates from Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Jharkhand, and Madhya Pradesh are expected to be announced today.
Tomorrow is the last date for filing nominations for Rajya Sabha polls which is scheduled for February 7.
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