SHEILA MAY CONTEST FROM VARANASI SOUTH

Congress party chief ministerial candidate Sheila Dikshit is likely to contest assembly polls from Varanasi South. The issue was discussed in a meeting of senior party leaders, who camped in Varanasi ahead of Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi’s road show on August 2.

LUCKNOW: “UP ki bahu” Sheila Dikshit would on Sunday garland statue of her father-in-law and Congress veteran late Uma Shankar Dikshit in Unnao to reestablish her connect with the people of Uttar Pradesh.

As per programme, Dikshit would reach Lucknow on Saturday evening. She would visit Unnao on Sunday and later camp in Lucknow on August 8 and 9.

“She will also garland a statue of late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and inaugurate a Congress Seva Dal camp there,” said Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) communication department chairman Satyadev Tripathi on phone. The Congress’ campaign committee chairman Sanjay Singh would accompany Dikshit.

Although Dikshit has no programme to visit Ugu, the ancestral village of Dikshit family, much significance is being attached to her visit to Unnao. Dikshit had called herself “UP ki Bahu” following the Congress leadership’s decision to project her as party’s chief ministerial face for the 2017 assembly elections. As Uma Shankar Dikshit has been a popular figure in the region, the partymen feel she would be able to reconnect not only with the partymen but also with the people.

Replying to a question at his mega interactive session with the partymen on July 29 here, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi had lauded Dikshit for her long experience and said Delhi had seen lots of development during her three terms as the chief minister there.