NEW DELHI: It was not an arduous wait for Shiela Dikshit on Wednesday like the one in 2003.
Dikshit became the Chief Minister for the third term virtually within a matter of minutes.
"My congratulations to all those new Congress MLAs and Sheila Dikshit will be the leader in Delhi," was the message of party chief Sonia Gandhi to the Congress Legislature Party (CLP).
The CLP had authorised her to take a decision on the leadership issue.
Within a matter of few minutes since CLP gave its authorisation, Gandhi gave the message through AICC General Secretary Mohsina Kidwai, who was one of the central observers.
Interestingly, senior leader Chaudhury Prem Singh who as DPCC chief in 2003 had opposed a second term for Dikshit, seconded her name this time.
In 2003, it was, however, a different story. It took about a week for the Congress to decide to give the reins of Delhi to Dikshit once again.
That time, Congress under Dikshit had won 47 of the total 70 seats while this time it is 42 but the victory is a hat-trick which no woman leader in the country has ever achieved.
There has been no looking back for Dikshit who was made the DPCC chief by Gandhi in 1998 after she was fed up with the factional politics in the Delhi unit.
