Sandeep Dikshit: Sheila Dixit's Son Against Kejriwal In New Delhi (image: facebook.com/iamsandeepdikshit/)

New Delhi: In high profile New Delhi constituency, Congress has fielded former MP Sandeep Dikshit against former chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal. He is the son of late Sheila Dikshit, three-time Delhi Chief Minister. The involvement of political legacy makes the battle more intense.

For Sandeep, the political battle is personal since it is about retaining once family stronghold and legacy. Kejriwal won from the New Delhi seat in 2013 ousting sitting MP Sheila Dikshit by a margin of over 25,000. He retained the seat in 2015 and 2020 Assembly Elections.

Also Read | Shehzad Poonawalla Apologises To Poorvanchalis

Sandeep is known for his staunch criticism of Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP. He represented the East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency in 2004 and 2009. Though he aimed for a hat-trick in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Sandeep got retreated to the third position.

Dikshit in a recent interview with Smita Prakash, as termed former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal “a nikamma (useless) MLA” and an “autocrat from the days of the Anna Hazare movement”, news agency ANI reports.

In another short video of the interaction shared by the news agency, addressing the controversy over Kejriwal’s renovation of his official bungalow, Dikshit said that it had shattered Kejriwal’s image as a “common man”, and added that he always knew that Kejriwal wasn’t who he pretended to be in public.

“He is not an individual who will never live in a bungalow, or buy a car or say that he will take all his decisions after consulting the people of Delhi. I always knew it.. When I spoke to his friends during the Lokpal movement.. He is an autocrat,” ANI reports as Dikshit is saying.

Before entering into politics, he served as the chief of social development group Sanket Information and Research Agency Private Limited and faculty member at O. P. Jindal Global University.

Also Read | AAP Accuses BJP’s Parvesh Verma Of Distributing Money, Shoes, And Blankets To Voters

Voting for the 70 assembly seats in Delhi will held in a single phase on February 5 and counting of the votes will take place on February 8. In the 2020 Assembly polls, AAP secured a massive victory, winning 62 out of 70 seats, while BJP won 8 seats. However, the Congress failed to secure any seats in the election.