Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed his condolences over the death of former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit. The three-time chief minister was admitted to a private hospital in Delhi this morning where she died of cardiac arrest this afternoon. She was 81.
“Deeply saddened by the demise of Sheila Dikshit Ji. Blessed with a warm and affable personality, she made a noteworthy contribution to Delhi’s development. Condolences to her family and supporters. Om Shanti,” he tweeted.
The veteran Congress leader had served as Delhi’s chief minister for three consecutive terms between 1998 and 2013. She was succeeded by Aam Aadmi Party’s Arvind Kejriwal. She was credited for Delhi’s growing infrastructure including roads and flyovers, a less polluted city, better public transport system as well as development on the health and educational fronts.
Sheila Dikshit, after her stint as Delhi chief minister, was sworn in as Kerala’s Governor in 2014, but resigned in just six months. She had started off as a reluctant politician, and cut her political teeth assisting her father-in-law, a veteran Uttar Pradesh Congress leader Uma Shankar Dikshit, who was a minster in Indira Gandhi’s cabinet.
Earlier this year, Sheila Dikshit was made the Delhi Congress chief. She contested the Lok Sabha election but lost to the BJP’s Manoj Tiwari.
Sheila Dikshit became a lawmaker for the first time from the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh in 1984. She was a close associated of former PM Rajiv Gandhi and a minister in his cabinet.
Born in Punjab’s Kapurthala, Sheila Dikshit was credited with numerous people-friendly programmes.
Sheila Dikshit’s son Sandeep Dikshit is also a Congress leader who was a parliamentarian from Delhi. She lived in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area.
