New Delhi: With her party eyeing an alliance with Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, Congress CM face Sheila Dikshit has offered to opt out of the race.
"I am irrelevant. I would plump for Akhilesh and an alliance with him. So why shouldn't he be the CM?" Dikshit told News18 on Wednesday at her residence in Delhi.
Her words reflected what other sources in the party have already confirmed - that the Congress was inching towards an alliance with Akhilesh and that Dikshit was not kept in the loop.
The 78 year-old three-time chief minister also admitted to what was suspected all along: "I never wanted to become the CM face."
Dikshit's opting out would make things easier for the Congress which would otherwise have had to look for a facesaver in case the alliance takes shape.
Hours after the Election Commission announced the poll schedule for five states, including UP, Congress kept its options open to alliance with SP to stop "fascist" forces.
"If the issue of coming together of like-minded parties will gain ground to defeat 'fascist and communal' forces, the Congress high command will take a decision in the matter," Congress spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil said.
Other party leaders, like Jitin Prasada, too, have talked about a ganging up of the young - meaning Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh and Jayant Chaudhary of the Rashtriya Lok Dal - especially ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Congress hopes to seal the alliance with Akhilesh in a week, a source said, adding that much would depend on how far the UP CM pushes the envelope.
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