Lovely downplays reports of Congress sidelining Sheila Dikshit

Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) chief Arvinder Singh Lovely on Wednesday downplayed reports of his party sidelining former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit ahead of the assembly polls.

He also refuted reports of any committee being formed by the party and said that Congress' CM candidate for Delhi elections will be selected under the guidance of all its senior leaders without favouring or sidelining anyone.

"No discussions regarding the formation of any committee have been held so far. It's unfortunate that few media channels are saying that Sheila Dixit is now being sidelined in the Congress, but she is our very senior leader. So, there is no question of any such news. In fact, the Congress is making full use of the experience and direction of all its senior leaders in the election campaign," said Lovely.

He further said that all the Congress members are part of party vice-president Rahul Gandhi's team.

"We will together fight the elections and help the people get rid of all the problems that they are facing because of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the last one year. The Congress government will relieve the people from all their troubles," he added.

He also mocked at AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, saying the latter should not be taken seriously as he never did what he promised. Lovely further said winning the election in the present scenario would be a major achievement for the AAP chief.

Reacting to AAP's statement that fight is 'Kejriwal Vs Jagdish Mukhi' this time, Lovely said Kejriwal needs a good doctor and needs to go for a checkup.

"He himself decides whom he has to fight with whether the other person is in the fight or not," he said.

Earlier today, AAP leader Manish Sisodia hailed the decision of Cabinet approving the dissolution of Delhi Assembly and going for fresh polls and said that the fight is now between BJP and AAP because Congress does not stand anywhere.

With the Union Cabinet recommending the dissolution of the Delhi Assembly and setting the stage for fresh elections in the days to come, political parties have begun finalizing their poll campaign strategy to grab power here.

The BJP, which was single largest party in the last polls here, is pinning its hope on Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will be their star campaigner in the forthcoming polls.

President's rule was imposed in Delhi since February after the Kejriwal-led AAP government stepped down after remaining in power for 49 days.