Sheila’s absence bothers Cong

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 24

Three-term former Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dikshit was yesterday conspicuous by her absence at the release of the first part of the Congress’ manifesto for the Delhi elections.
A day later, the party was trying to find ways of involving the 76-year-old in the poll campaign which is yet to pick up momentum. The lingering absence of Sheila Dikshit from the political landscape of Delhi is hurting party prospects especially when the party is seeking votes in the name of “15 years of development in Delhi” which was delivered with her at the helm.
But today even her photographs don’t find a place in the Congress’ campaign material in Delhi which is going to polls on February 7. Having passed on the mantle of leadership in the state to younger Ajay Makan, the Congress has forgotten to take Sheila Dikshit along, feels a section loyal to the ex-CM.
There are reports that she and her son Sandeep Dikshit, a former Lok Sabha member from East Delhi, are finding it hard to involve themselves in the party campaign. Only a day before the manifesto release, the party asked its general secretary in charge of Delhi PC Chacko to visit Sheila at her residence and ask her to join the fight. Chacko accompanied by another senior Congress leader visited Sheila and later said the former CM “was engaged and made a number of phone calls to organise public meetings and solicit support for the party”.
But the veracity of that statement remains to be tested considering Sheila skipped the manifesto release event after Chacko met her a day before.
Besides, the Sheila camp is upset at the invisibility of their leader in the Congress’ election materials – be it the mobile vans hired or pamphlets that bear just three photos — those of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Congress unit chief Arvinder Singh Lovely.
“You are seeking votes in the name of development which was delivered under Sheila Dikshit,but you have problems using her name in the election material. There’s no problem in looking at the future, but why this resistance in acknowledging the past?” asks a senior leader from Delhi.
Sheila’s rival and Congress’ Delhi campaign leader Ajay Makan, however, says Sheila’s experience will benefit the party and she is very much around. But the fact, which a part of the Delhi Congress leadership admits, is – her absence is undermining party’s efforts to seek votes.
Notwithstanding the former CM’s low profile on the election eve, the official Congress line is simple — Sheila Dikshit is a star campaigner alongside Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and other top leaders.