Former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit passed away, last rites to be performed at Nigambodh ghat: LIVE Updates

Longest serving Delhi CM Late Sheila Dikshit cremated with state honours 

Sheila Dikshit's mortal remains being taken inside AICC 

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra paid tributes to Sheila Dikshit at AICC, Delhi. 

 Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh paid his tribute to former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit

AFter paying tributes to the mortal remains of Congress veteran Sheila Dikshit at AICC, Sonia Gandhi said that her demise is a big loss for the Congress party. 

Former CM of Delhi Sheila Dikshit's last journey

Omar Abdullah paid tributes to Sheila Dikshit's mortal remains. "She had only one desire to see development of Delhi. This is the city she cared for. Every citizen of Delhi will remeber her fondly regardless of party politics," he said. 

Former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj paid tribute to former Delhi CM and Senior Congress leader SheilaDixit who passed away yesterday
 

HD Dewe Gowda said on the demise of former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit - "She was the senoir most leader of Congress party. As CM she has taken several initiatives for construction of highway, roadways, flyovers. All round development of Delhi. SHE WAS dedicated, honest, simple and Delhi stands as an international City the credit goes to Sheila Dikshit"

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader LK Advani paid tribute to former Delhi CM and Senior Congress leader Sheila Dixit   

Mortal remains of Sheila Dikshit will be carried to AICC and then to Nigambodh for last rites

Rajiv Shukla and Ashok Gehlot arrive outside AICC as former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit's mortal remains will be carried. 

Mortal remains of former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit being taken from her residence in Nizamuddin to Congress Headquarters.

In an unfortunate incident, Former Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dikshit passed away on July 20, Saturday (03:55PM) at the age of 81 due to cardiac arrest at Escorts Fortis Hospital. Sheila Dikshit was born 31 March 1938 and was the longest-serving Chief Minister of Delhi, serving for a period of 15 years from 1998 to 2013. She also became the longest serving woman CM of India. Her mortal remains will be moved at AICC office and her last rites will be performed at Nigambodh Ghat on July 21. 

Dikshit led Congress party to three consecutive electoral victories in Delhi. In the December 2013 elections to the Delhi Legislative Assembly, Dikshit was defeated in New Delhi constituency by Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal, who replaced her as Delhi's chief minister. Subsequently, she was sworn in as Governor of Kerala on 11 March 2014. The Congress party fought the recent Lok Sabha elections in Delhi under her leadership. 

In the Lok Sabha elections, she contested from the North East Delhi constituency against BJP Delhi chief Manoj Tiwari. However she lost the elections. After the loss, Dikshit took  steps to revive the Congress party amid crisis in the party. Across party lines she was respected as an astute leader and from PM Modi to all leaders across party lines extended their condolences and went to offer their tributes. 

Remembering Sheila Dikshit: 

Born in Punjab, Shehla Dikshit did her schooling and higher studies in Delhi, she is also a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Delhi.survived by her daughter Latika Syed and her son, Congress leader Sandeep Dixit, she was married to Late Vinod Dixit who had served as an IAS officer. Her father-in-law Uma Shankar Dikshit was a veteran Uttar Pradesh Congress leader who was a minister in Indira Gandhi’s cabinet.

An active politician, the late Sheila Dikshit has a repository of achievements and lengthy political career.
 

• Sheila Dikhit was Member of Parliament representing Kannauj constituency of Uttar Pradesh from 1984 to 1989.
• She was also a Member of the Lok Sabha's Estimates Committee in 1984.
• She had chaired the Implementation Committee formed to commemorate 40 years of Indian Independence and the centenary of Jawaharlal Nehru.
• Sheila Dikshit had represented India at the United Nations Commission on the status of women from 1984 to 1989.
• She was the Union minister from 1986 to 1989, handling two portfolios as Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office and as Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, showing her mettle in administrative and parliamentary matters.

Contribution in Delhi:
     

• LADLI SCHEME: Sheila Dikshit stood for women empowerment. In fact, it was her government that is credited for the Ladli Scheme of 2008 through which if a girl child is born in a household, the day she is admitted in a school, Rs.10,000 was deposited in her name by the government and by the time she passes 12th class, a cheque of Rs. 1 lakh was issued.
   
• IMPROVED WATER SUPPLY IN DELHI: The 2013 Human Development Report stated that 80% of households receive water in their premises which is better than other metros and there is no doubt that credit goes to the late Sheila Dikshit
   
• CONTRIBUTION TO SCHOOLS: During her tenure as the Chief Minister, the Delhi Government made education a key priority and introduced innovative schemes like Vidhyarthi Kalyan Samitis through which government schools were crowd-funded by 5-6 eminent personalities in the area
   
• BHAGIDARI SCHEME: Introduced by Sheila Dikshit in 1998, the Bhagidari system was a scheme which aimed to improve the accountability of governance in Delhi by introducing more than 2000 groups to conduct workshops with RWAs​​​​​​​
   
• INITIATED THE DELHI METRO PROJECT: It was in 2002 when Sheila Dikshit took charge as the Delhi Chief Minister that the Delhi Metro project was kicked off . This project was praised by the United Nations in 2011 for being the first rail network that reduced greenhouse gas emissions
  
   
• IMPLEMENTATION OF CNG: It was in 2001 under Sheila Dikshit’s tenure that the Supreme Court order on public transport to be being fueled by CNG was implemented and a massive 12,000 city buses converted to CNG.

In honour of Delhi's longest-serving Chief Minister - late Sheila Dikshit, Delhi govt has announced a two-day state mourning.