Is the Congress really serious about rebuilding the party? Because if it is, then the choice of Sheila Dikshit as the face of the party in Uttar Pradesh, which goes to the polls in less than a year seems like a step into history. Dikshit won three elections for the Congress in Delhi, but suffered a humiliating defeat in 2013 even losing her own seat. She was made governor of Kerala, but at the age of 78 is back to frontline politics. Dikshit is a trusted member of the Gandhi circle, but the question staring at her and the party is can she revive the Congress in a state where it is virtually non-existent? The BJP is still in combat mode and it will be battling the Samajwadi Party and BSP. The Congress will have to claw its way into the minds of UP voters and Dikshit hardly seems to be the kind of person to achieve that, and certainly not after a drubbing in Delhi. The Congress is fighting for survival and it has fallen back on old warhorses to revive its fortunes. This does not look like a strategy. Instead it is the response of party that has run out of options. The trouble is Dikshit will have to depend on Rahul Gandhi. It is difficult to tell who is leaning on who’s shoulder.
