In photos: The political journey of Sheila Dikshit, 'beloved daughter of Congress'

Sheila Dikshit entered politics in 1984 and won elections from Uttar Pradesh Kannauj — Sheila Dikshit entered politics in 1984 and won elections from Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint

New Delhi: Sheila Dikshit, one of Congress party’s popular leaders and with the distinction of being Delhi’s longest serving chief minister, passed away Saturday at Fortis Escorts hospital. She was 81.

Born to a non-political family in 1938 in Punjab, Dikshit completed her schooling in the capital and graduated from Miranda House, University of Delhi.

Her political career has its beginnings in the time she began assisting her father-in-law Uma Shankar Dikshit, a loyalist of Jawaharlal Nehru and served as a minister in Indira Gandhi’s cabinet in 1971. He later became Governor of Karnataka and West Bengal.

Sheila’s efforts were noticed by Indira Gandhi, who nominated her as a member of the Indian delegation to the UN Commission on status of women.

In 1984, she was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh, and served as a minister in Rajiv Gandhi’s government. She was first the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and later the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s office.

Sheila Dikshit with Priyanka Gandhi during the campaigning of 2019 elections | Photo Manisha Mondal | ThePrint — At 81, Sheila Dikshit contested from Delhi’s north-east constituency. She had campaigned along with Priyanka Gandhi | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

As the longest serving woman chief minister who administered Delhi for three consecutive terms from 1998 to 2013, Dikshit is known for ushering in an era of all-round development.

She initiated green reforms in the public transport sector, successfully accomplishing the shift from polluting vehicles to a CNG-based fleet. She fastened the flagship Delhi Metro project, oversaw the creation of a network of flyovers in a city stressed with high population density and heavy traffic, and also led the phasing out of the ‘killer’ blue line buses that had claimed several lives on the roads.

Her largely successful legacy was, however, marred by the CWG scam as the BJP accused her of large scale corruption in several development contracts approved to meet the 2010 Commonwealth Games deadlines.

Also read: Sheila Dikshit was a beloved daughter of Congress party, says Rahul Gandhi

Sheila Dikshit is famous as the three-time Delhi CM, who put civility into civic and the class into capital — Sheila Dikshit, the veteran old-school politician who put civility into civic and the class into capital | Photo: Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

Dikshit took a beating over her alleged role in the 2010 Commonwealth Games scandal as well as her inability to grasp the outrage against the 2012 Gangrape case | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint — Dikshit took a beating over her alleged role in the 2010 Commonwealth Games scandal as well as her inability to grasp the outrage against the 2012 gangrape case | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Dikshit’s super political run in Delhi ended in 2013 when the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP defeated her in the assembly polls.

In her long political innings, Dikshit sailed through many storms. It was experience and popularity that the Congress counted on when they made her Delhi Congress chief just ahead of Lok Sabha elections this year. She took on BJP’s Manoj Tiwari in the North East constituency, but eventually lost.