Congress nominates Sheila Dikshit as UP CM candidate: 10 things to know

Dikshit had initially refused to accept the nomination as it is widely considered to be a losing battle for the Congress

Congress veteran and former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit will lead the party as its chief ministerial candidate for 2017 Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.

Ten things to know about the Congress' face in UP

1) Dikshit, 78, is the daughter-in-law of the prominent Congress leader from UP, Uma Shankar Dikshit, who was a Brahmin and had served as a Union minister and governor for a long time. Earlier this month, Dikshit dusted off her credentials as "UP's daughter-in-law" and said that she was ready to "play her role" in the state. 

2) Aside from speculation over her role in the upcoming UP Assembly polls, Dikshit has been in the news recently in connection with an alleged scam involving irregularities in awarding tenders for hiring water tankers. An Aam Aadmi Party-constituted fact-finding committee's report highlighted alleged corruption of Rs 400 crore in the process of awarding tenders for hiring water tankers by the Delhi Jal Board in 2012, during Dikshit's rule. The Anti-Corruption Branch has sent a notice to Dikshit, asking her to join the investigation into the alleged scam. Dikshit, however, has described the allegations as being "politically motivated".    
 

3) Dikshit has been elected as chief minister of Delhi thrice since 1998. Sheila Dikshit is the second lady chief minister of Delhi after current Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj.

4) She was appointed as the governor of Kerala in March 2014, but was forced to resign five months later after the NDA govt came to power .

5) Dikshit was also accused of corruption in procurements related to the 2010 Commonwealth Games. According to a NDTV report from 2011, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India found irregularities in procurement of streetlights. Dikshit was accused of allegedly costing the government Rs 31 crore in losses by deciding to use imported equipment for street lighting in the city during the games. 

6) In 1984, She was made part of the Indian delegation to the United Nations Commission on status of women. 

7) From 1986 to 1989, she served as a minister in the Union government. She became a minister in Rajiv Gandhi's government and started as minister of state for parliamentary affairs. Later, she served as a minister of state in the Prime Minister's office. 

8) She was jailed for 23 days by the Uttar Pradesh government when she led a drive against the violence being committed on women in the state.

9) Dikshit is a Master of Arts in History from Miranda House, University of Delhi.

10) Dikshit was born in Punjab's Kapurthala district on March 31, 1938. She has two children — Sandeep Dikshit and Latika Dikshit Syed. Her deceased husband, Vinod Dikshit, was an officer in the Indian Administrative Service.