Former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit was announced Congress' CM candidate for UP elections 2017 on Thursday.
The Congress Party's gambit of naming Sheila Dikshit as its chief ministerial candidate for the Uttar Pradesh election marks just another step in a series by a party which can scarcely shroud its desperation.
Many within the Congress privately share that there is little the self proclaimed "bahu of UP" can do to shore up the electoral fortunes of the party which has been out of power for three decades now.
Seen in tandem with the appointment of actor Raj Babbar as Uttar Pradesh Congress president, Ghulam Nabi Azad as AICC general secretary in charge of UP, Sanjay Sinh as campaign committee chairman and a clutch of vice-presidents and senior vice-presidents chosen purely on caste factors, the picture that emerges is of a rather shoddy and hurried attempt to put a jigsaw puzzle together.
Sidelined senior leaders like the party's Rajya Sabha MP Pramod Tiwari and outgoing UP Congress chief Nirmal Khatri have been handed apologetic posts like co-ordination committee chairman and screening committee chairman, respectively, whatever that means.
A random interaction with some Congress leaders reveals a unanimous disappointment over Sheila Dikshit's appointment. "She's a spent force," said one. "She may call herself UP's 'bahu' but she has never had any connect with UP or UP's Congress workers or leaders," said another.
The Delhi Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) investigation into the alleged Rs 400-crore Delhi Jal Board tanker scam in which Dikshit is an accused, could further queer the pitch for her. The only argument offered in her favour is that she has proven administrative experience of three consecutive terms as Delhi chief minister. But there are doubts within the party rank and file about whether that would count for much in a fierce electoral battle where she would be facing the likes of Mayawati, Mulayam and Akhilesh Yadav.
Another factor foxing the Congressmen in UP is the continuing confusion over the role Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is supposed to play in the coming election. Despite Ghulam Nabi Azad's encouraging utterances on the subject, there is still no clarity whether she would lead the Congress army and go all out in electioneering in an election which could make or mar the party's fortunes not only in UP but also for Lok Sabha – 2019.
Party insiders say Congress's election strategist Prashant Kishor aka 'PK' has finally had his way by getting a Brahmin leader as the party's CM face. He was known to be rooting for a Brahmin as the UP Congress president but the party (read: Priyanka) preferred Raj Babbar, seen as a "caste neutral" since his caste (swarnakar, a backward) is known to very few.
Now the Congress in UP has Azad as the Muslim face, Sanjay Sinh, the Thakur satrap, RPN Singh, a Kurmi backward just named state vice-president, and Raj Babbar, the crowd puller and orator. But the question remains whether all the king's horses and all the king's men can put the woebegone party together again.
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