Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit was on Thursday declared the Chief Ministerial candidate of the Congress Party in Uttar Pradesh. The Assembly Elections in the state are scheduled to be held next year.
#FLASH Sheila Dikshit announced as UP CM candidate from Congress for UP Elections 2017.
— ANI (@ANI_news) July 14, 2016
Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad made the announcement at the All India Congress Committee headquarters in New Delhi.
"Want to thank Congress high command for the responsibility. It's a big responsibility, want to thank party high command for believing in me. Going for #UPElections with the hope that we will win this time... People of UP should not tolerate anymore. The state should be number one," Sheila Dikshit was quoted by ANI as saying in a series of tweets, after her name was announced as the CM candidate.
Dikshit also added that she would like to see Priyanka Gandhi contribute towards the development of the state.
However, Dikshit has been accused of irregularities in the Rs. 400 crore water tanker scam of the Delhi Jal Board along with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. She has been accused of being involved in obtaining 385 water tankers in 2012. An FIR was filed against her on the recommendation of a committee led by state water minister Kapil Mishra.
Dikshit denied the allegations saying that they were "politically motivated". The timing of the allegations was suspicious due to speculations of Congress considering her as the chief ministerial candidate of Uttar Pradesh or for a major position in Punjab.
The Congress, which is known to refrain from announcing the names of its chief ministerial candidates in poll-bound states, made an exception this time by declaring Dikshit as its CM candidate in UP.
