The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said that choosing Sheila Dikshit as the Congress party’s chief ministerial candidate for Uttar Pradesh is a wrong move, as the latter is too old to deliver victory to the grand old party in the 2017 state assembly election. It said that party vice president Rahul Gandhi should have instead come forward for the post.
“I would like to tell Rahul Gandhi that Sheila Dikshit is an elderly person. I think Rahul Gandhi should himself come forward for the chief ministerial post. He can never be the Prime Minister. He should fight for the post of chief minister,” Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Keshav Prasad Mourya said.
Mourya said if Gandhi wishes to fight the Uttar Pradesh election, and if he thinks the Congress can do something, well then it would be better if he becomes the chief ministerial candidate in Uttar Pradesh.
“Everyone knows what his family has done with the nation in the last 60 years. I don’t see a situation of comeback of the Congress in Uttar Pradesh at a time when the people of Uttar Pradesh have rejected it. Otherwise, I don’t have any objection if he wants to do something on behalf of his party,” he added.
Dikshit will be up against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Mayawati.
The BJP is yet to name a chief ministerial candidate.
Dikshit was the chief minister of Delhi for three straight terms until she lost to Arvind Kejriwal in 2012.
