Sheila Dikshit to be Congress's star campaigner in Delhi Assembly polls

Former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit will be a "key campaigner" of the party for the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls, Congress said on Wednesday amid indications that it will release its first list of candidates on Thursday or the day after.

"Sheilaji one of the key campaigners for the party. She will play an active role in our campaign as a star campaigner," Congress MP PC Chacko told reporters here amid reports that Dikshit had refused to campaign for the party. Sources in the party said the first list of candidates could be out as early as on Thursday and will have names of all eight sitting MLAs of the party besides a dozen, who were in the second position. Congress had also planned a mega rally in Delhi to kickstart its poll campaign, which will take place any day after January 10, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi could address an election rally.

Congress will go to the polls on the plank of development and stability. While the view in Congress is that it may not be in a position to form government, it will better its tally from the previous polls. "We hit the bottom rock in the last election. We have only to improve from there," a party functionary said expressing confidence that Aam Aadmi Party led by Arvind Kejriwal won't be able to repeat its previous performance.

Former Delhi Chief Minster Sheila Dikshit, who had lost to Kejriwal from New Delhi seat, had made it clear that she would not contest Assembly polls this time. Earlier, there was a speculation that the party may ask some of its former MPs to contest polls but sources in the party say that most of them have not evinced any keenness for it. There is speculation that the party may field relatively young former MPs.