New Delhi, July 27: The Congress faced acute embarrassment yesterday when Sandeep Dikshit hit out at the leadership at a time efforts are on to hardsell to voters in Uttar Pradesh the unusual decision to project his mother and former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit as the party's face in the heartland state.
Sandeep, a former Lok Sabha MP who was also a key member of Rahul Gandhi's strategy team, wrote a blog accusing the leadership of promoting people in Delhi who abused and maligned his mother. This exposes the Congress high command to the charge that it has chosen for Uttar Pradesh a leader it had discarded in Delhi.
"The Delhi Congress presents a difficult picture to me. It is led by a person who has consistently and directly attacked Sheila Dikshit, with his stories, innuendoes and defamatory propaganda... When such a person is rewarded and placed at the helm of affairs of the Delhi Congress, where does that leave any space for me to graze in?" wrote Sandeep, talking of the options before him.
He was referring to Delhi unit chief Ajay Maken, who is being promoted by Rahul. Maken was first made AICC general secretary and the head of the party's communications department, and then the candidate for Delhi chief minister in the last Assembly election. Maken's entry into Rahul's coterie pushed Sandeep out.
Sandeep, who has spoken against the top leadership on several occasions in recent times, wrote yesterday: "He prepared a false synopsis of the CAG's Commonwealth report, putting in fabricated charges, and sent them to a media house even before the CAG report was published. Of course, the actual report contained none of these charges, but the damage, as planned, was done.
"The same game was played with electricity rates, power metres, and so on....
"I am in the Congress but as far as its Delhi unit is concerned, I cannot accept a leadership whose sole objective was to discredit the Congress government in Delhi under Sheila Dikshit. As far as the Congress set-up at the national level is concerned, I am informed that I am not particularly liked for my rebellious nature and irreverent attitude.
"So like all sensible cattle, I roam around, picking grass from wherever I get it with honour and self-respect."
Although he made it clear that other options like the BJP and AAP were not acceptable to him, the blog will give political ammunition to the Congress's rivals in Uttar Pradesh, who will question the party leadership's faith in Sheila's value.
Ghulam Nabi Azad, the general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh, said: "We can't take the entire family's responsibility. Even Sheila Dikshit cannot take guarantee for her relatives."
Another leader said: "This is frustrating. Sandeep's motives are not known but the timing of his remarks is very damaging. Is he damaging his mother's prospects?"
The party had launched a major campaign to sell the idea of projecting a Delhi leader as Uttar Pradesh's chief ministerial candidate with a three-day bus tour that ended yesterday. Sandeep's outburst overshadowed a news conference the party had organised this evening to highlight the success of the campaign. Sheila Dikshit stayed away, possibly to avoid questions on her son.
