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Former Delhi CM and Congress stalwart Sheila Dikshit passes away

July 20 (AZINS) Former Delhi Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Sheila Dikshit passed away in Delhi on Saturday. ?

Fortis Escorts Hospital said that she passed away at 3:55 PM after she was brought in a critical condition with cardiac arrest.

Dikshit was the longest-serving Chief Minister of Delhi, having served in office for 15 years from 1998. The 81-year-old was appointed as the president of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee earlier this year, in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.

Her last rites will be held on Sunday at 2:30 PM at Nibambodh Ghat. 

Sheila Dikshit was a three-time Delhi CM and who was also the former Governor of Kerala. Between 1998 and 2013, Sheila Dikshit led Congress to three consecutive victories in Delhi and was a highly popular CM.

PM Modi wrote on Twitter: "Deeply saddened by the demise of Sheila Dikshit Ji. Blessed with a warm and affable personality, she made a noteworthy contribution to Delhi’s development. Condolences to her family and supporters. Om Shanti."

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, whose party wiped out Congress condoled the death of his predecessor writing: “Just now got to know about the extremely terrible news about the passing away of Mrs Sheila Dikshit ji. It is a huge loss for Delhi and her contribution will always be remembered. My heartfelt condolences to her family members. May her soul rest in peace.”

Former J&K CM Omar Abdullah also expressed his condolences.

She was born in Kapurthala, Punjab into a Punjabi Khatri family and was educated at the Convent of Jesus and Mary School in  Delhi before studying at Miranda House. 

Dikshit is survived by her son Sandeep Dikshit and her daughter Latika Syed. 

Career 

Married to IAS officer Vinod Dikshit, who was close to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi but died prematurely of a heart attack, she began her political education by helping out her father-in-law, veteran Uttar Pradesh Congress leader Uma Shankar Dikshit, a minister in Indira Gandhi's cabinet. It was Indira Gandhi who chose Sheila Dikshit first for a UN delegation.

The family's affinity with the Gandhis helped. She became a minister in Rajiv Gandhi's government after entering the Lok Sabha in 1984 from Uttar Pradesh after her husband's death. She was later a minister in the Prime Minister's Office before the Congress was ousted nationally in 1989.

Dikshit's known rapport with Congress president Sonia Gandhi helped her become president of faction-ridden party in Delhi in May 1998, barely six months before she led it to victory in assembly elections.

In no time, Dikshit -- although not a powerful orator -- proved how to preside over a microscopic India called Delhi.

The Congress won an impressive 52 of the 70 seats in Delhi in 1998. The Dikshit magic worked again in 2003 and 2008.

The Kapurthala-born Dikshit was credited with numerous people-friendly programmes. She provided easy access to neighbourhood associations. She was at home in Hindi and English.

She was credited for Delhi's growing infrastructure including roads and flyovers, a less polluted city, better public transport system as well as development on the health and educational fronts.

A product of Convent of Jesus and Mary School in Delhi and of Miranda House college in Delhi University, loved relaxing with her family.

She loved movies and music -- and read Guy de Maupassant and Jane Austen.

Everything made her a favourite in a city where the Bharatiya Janata Party only kept losing in electoral battles for the assembly.

That is when things started going wrong.

The furore over perceived corruption leading up to the Commonwealth Games badly affected Delhi's image. Although she later claimed part credit for the way it was eventually held, it was widely felt that she too was guilty for the mess.

Then came the civil society movement of Gandhian Anna Hazare, whose lieutenant and government official-turned-activist Arvind Kejriwal became a bete noire, repeatedly finding faults with her administration.

The gang-rape and death of a young woman in a moving bus in Delhi in December 2012 and the frenzied protests that followed hurt Dikshit badly.

She tried to sail with people's mood by saying her own daughter didn't feel safe in Delhi. The remark didn't win her brownie points.

Runaway inflation, which affected prices of daily food items, shortage of water and rising power bills were exploited to the hilt by the opposition, not just the BJP but the debutant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) too. By the time elections were announced in Delhi in 2013,  the dominant feeling was that the Congress was on its way out. And that's what happened.

Things went downhill after 2013 where the Congress was shown the door. She was Governor of Kerala in 2014 for five months before resigning reportedly because NDA had asked Dikshit to accept a transfer to a Northeast state or resign.

She was the UP CM candidate for Congress in 2017 before the party formed an alliance with Samajwadi Party before returning as Delhi Cong chief in 2019 where she lost to Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari from the North-East Delhi constituency.

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