No Thanks, Sheila Dikshit Tells Congress On Uttar Pradesh Role: Sources

New Delhi: Sheila Dikshit, three-time Delhi chief minister, has reportedly said no to a big role in Uttar Pradesh, where elections will be held early next year.

Sources say Ms Dikshit has told the Congress party that she does not want to be the party's chief ministerial face for the Uttar Pradesh polls and cited "lack of time" as the reason.

Poll strategist Prashant Kishor had proposed a Brahmin leader for the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, and Ms Dikshit checks all the boxes, but the party's search, it appears, is far from over.

Earlier this month, the former chief minister met Congress president Sonia Gandhi, reportedly to discuss the plan. Confronted by reporters after that meeting, she had been noncommittal, saying: "Nothing to report."

Amid reports of Ms Dikshit's possible new role, Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung forwarded for investigation a complaint of corruption against the former chief minister in a 400-crore water tanker deal. The complaint has been made by Sheila Dikshit's successor Arvind Kejriwal.

Congress sources said 78-year-old Ms Dikshit had risen to the top of the pack as a choice for Uttar Pradesh because of her record in Delhi and her family ties to the state - her father-in-law Uma Shankar Dikshit was a prominent Congressman from there.

The Congress, long reduced to number four in the politically vital state - behind the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the BJP - has engaged strategist Prashant Kishor to try and script a comeback in the assembly election.

Mr Kishor is credited with the successful campaigns of Narendra Modi in 2014 and Nitish Kumar last year; many see his latest assignment as one of his most challenging.

Ms Dikshit's refusal is another blow for the Congress after its struggle to find a campaign in-charge in Punjab has led it from one controversy to another.