Congress' chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections Sheila Dikshit has described Ghulam Nabi Azad as the Amit Shah of Congress.
"If BJP has Amit Shah, then the Congress has Ghulam Nabi Azad" she told ETV news head Jagdeesh Chandra.
Ghulam Nabi Azad is one of the senior most members of the Congress party and the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.
He was a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and served as the Parliamentary Affairs Minister in UPA-1 (2004-2009).
Dikshit expressed confidence that the Congress will emerge victorious in what can be termed as litmus test for the party.
In a veiled reference to the Bharatiya Janata Party which has been accused of sidelining veterans like L.K. Advani and Yashwant Sinha, Dikshit said that both veterans and youth will have a place in Congress party, but hinted at changes in the state unit.
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Dikshit is the daughter-in-law of prominent Congress leader from Uttar Pradesh Uma Shankar Dikshit, who was a Brahmin face and had served as a union minister and governor for a long time.
The appointment of Shiela Dikshit as the Congress party's chief ministerial candidate is being seen as an attempt by the party to win back its traditional upper caste voters.