New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday announced that senior leader Sheila Dikshit, a Brahmin face, will be its chief ministerial candidate for the high-voltage Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2017.
Dikshit's Brahmin credentials and her administrative experience, during her stint as Delhi chief minister for 15 long years, is being touted as the reason behind her projection.
Congress party's election strategist Prashant Kishor, who has been roped in by the grand old party to to bring back its golden days in UP, is said to be in favour of a Brahmin as the party's chief ministerial face in the crucial elections and is believed to have suggested Dikshit's name.
Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi made the announcement at the party headquarters.
"For the first time your assumption has proved right," Dwivedi said, referring to media speculation that Dikshit, ousted from power in Delhi in December 2013, would be the face of the Congress in UP.
Meanwhile, numerous reports have been doing rounds that, Congress president Sonia Gandhi's daughter Priyanka Gandhi will play a huge role in the crucial elections. She is believed to address a 150 rallies across Uttar Pradesh ahead of the state Assembly elections in 2017. Traditionally, she has only campaigned in Amethi and Rae Bareli.
