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Crack team under Sheila Dikshit gears up to reclaim lost political ground

The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) has a fair mix of youth and experience, as well as members drawn from the minority community and castes.

Published: 01st February 2019 08:23 AM  |   Last Updated: 01st February 2019 08:23 AM   |  A+A A-

(Top) Newly-appointed Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Sheila Dikshit greets party workers after she took charge at the DPCC office on Wednesday; (Right) Jagdish Tytler arrives at the party office | shekhar yadav

By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Bidding to reclaim its lost political ground in the national capital, the Delhi Congress, under the stewardship of former CM Sheila Dikshit, has put together a crack team featuring three working presidents. The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) has a fair mix of youth and experience, as well as members drawn from the minority community and castes.

Sheila Dikshit with Rahul
Gandhi in Delhi on Thursday
| PTI

While Dikshit herself is a Brahmin, the working presidents also represent a rainbow coalition of communities and castes. While Rajesh Lilothia is from the Valmiki community, which is considered a Scheduled Caste, Devender Yadav represents the Other Backward Classes (OBC). Haroon Yusuf, the third of the working presidents, is a Muslim.

poll year

The crack team, shepherded by the former CM, has set its sights on taking the fight to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections and the Delhi Assembly polls, scheduled in 2020.

Dikshit, who has handpicked her lieutenants in a bid to infuse fresh zeal into cadres in the national capital, has been holding regular meetings with her working presidents to firm up the strategy for the imminent poll battle. 

Lilothia (48), who fought on a Congress ticket from Patel Nagar Assembly constituency in 2013 and 2015, had previously served as the party’s co-in-charge of Rajasthan. He was in charge of the Youth Congress in the capital from 2001 to 2006.

Yadav, who is slightly younger at 41, is a prominent OBC leader from the Badli area and was a Congress MLA. Yusuf, the seniormost of the working presidents, is a five-time MLA from Ballimaran constituency and a three-time cabinet minister. 

“The team members have been vetted by Rahul Gandhi. They were selected on merit and on the basis of their hard work,” Jitender, DPCC spokesperson, said.

Ready for battle
The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee has a fair mix of youth and experience, as well as members drawn from the minority community and castes. Laying out a plan, Dikshit, who has handpicked her team members, has been holding regular meetings with her working presidents to firm up the party’s strategy for the LS polls and next Assembly polls.