Sheila Dikshit, 78, may have finally succumbed to her party's wishes and could be named the presumptive Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh by the Congress this week.
Sources told NDTV that the party is also likely to announce that for the first time, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, whose mother Sonia Gandhi and brother Rahul Gandhi are the top bosses of the Congress, will campaign outside their constituencies of Raebareli, though it's not decided yet how many rallies or public meetings she will address. The Congress is expected to launch its campaign on the 15th.
While a section of the party bills this as 44-year-old Priyanka's formal and much-discussed debut in politics, another cautions that she has yet to confirm what sort of role she is willing to play and is unlikely to accept a formal responsibility for the bid for Uttar Pradesh, which votes next year.
Mrs. Dikshit served three times as Chief Minister of Delhi before Arvind Kejriwal dismissed her with a record mandate in December 2013.
Prashant Kishor, master strategist credited with a huge portion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's victory in the general election, now has the Congress as a client and has stressed that he wants a Brahmin face and an outsider as Chief Ministerial candidate. This, his team has said, was a calculated strategy designed to win back the Congress' traditional upper case support base in India's most populous state. Mr. Kishor also hopes to gain ground for the party among Muslims and non-Dalit Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
The Uttar Pradesh result will be used to extrapolate the outcome of the 2019 national election. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party is hoping for a comeback. He's up against regional heavyweight, Mayawati and the BJP, whose strategy is being handled by party president Amit Shah.
Priyanka Gandhi's last campaign in UP saw her asking voters to seek revenge from the BJP for its allegations of corruption against her husband, Robert Vadra, a controversial entrepreneur.
Mr. Vadra is being investigated for a land deal in Haryana struck while the Congress governed the state. A retired judge, Justice SN Dhingra, last week abruptly sought more time to collect evidence in the inquiry that includes Mr. Vadra's purchase of a plot in Gurugram near Delhi and its sale three months later for windfall gain.
The Congress and Mr. Vadra have denied any wrongdoing on his part.
The BJP has said it's impossible not to conflate a larger role for Priyanka Gandhi with an acknowledgement within the Congress of the resounding failure of her brother, Rahul, in leading the party.
Rahul Gandhi, 46, led the campaign in 2014 which accrued the party's worst-ever result. Since then, the Congress has been voted out in a series of states.
Sources told NDTV that the party is also likely to announce that for the first time, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, whose mother Sonia Gandhi and brother Rahul Gandhi are the top bosses of the Congress, will campaign outside their constituencies of Raebareli, though it's not decided yet how many rallies or public meetings she will address. The Congress is expected to launch its campaign on the 15th.
While a section of the party bills this as 44-year-old Priyanka's formal and much-discussed debut in politics, another cautions that she has yet to confirm what sort of role she is willing to play and is unlikely to accept a formal responsibility for the bid for Uttar Pradesh, which votes next year.
Mrs. Dikshit served three times as Chief Minister of Delhi before Arvind Kejriwal dismissed her with a record mandate in December 2013.
Prashant Kishor, master strategist credited with a huge portion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's victory in the general election, now has the Congress as a client and has stressed that he wants a Brahmin face and an outsider as Chief Ministerial candidate. This, his team has said, was a calculated strategy designed to win back the Congress' traditional upper case support base in India's most populous state. Mr. Kishor also hopes to gain ground for the party among Muslims and non-Dalit Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
The Uttar Pradesh result will be used to extrapolate the outcome of the 2019 national election. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party is hoping for a comeback. He's up against regional heavyweight, Mayawati and the BJP, whose strategy is being handled by party president Amit Shah.
Priyanka Gandhi's last campaign in UP saw her asking voters to seek revenge from the BJP for its allegations of corruption against her husband, Robert Vadra, a controversial entrepreneur.
Mr. Vadra is being investigated for a land deal in Haryana struck while the Congress governed the state. A retired judge, Justice SN Dhingra, last week abruptly sought more time to collect evidence in the inquiry that includes Mr. Vadra's purchase of a plot in Gurugram near Delhi and its sale three months later for windfall gain.
The Congress and Mr. Vadra have denied any wrongdoing on his part.
The BJP has said it's impossible not to conflate a larger role for Priyanka Gandhi with an acknowledgement within the Congress of the resounding failure of her brother, Rahul, in leading the party.
Rahul Gandhi, 46, led the campaign in 2014 which accrued the party's worst-ever result. Since then, the Congress has been voted out in a series of states.