The Congress party's chief ministerial candidate for Uttar Pradesh Sheila Dikshit returned to New Delhi on Saturday after a few hours on the campaign trail owing to a throat infection.


Age is probably catching up on Dikshit, who is 78, and the possiblity of an intense and active campaign in Uttar Pradesh may not be possible.


For instance on Saturday when the Congress launched its poll campaign in Uttar Pradesh, with party chief Sonia Gandhi and her deputy Rahul Gandhi flagging off a three-day bus yatra - "27 saal, UP behaal" - Dikshit had health problems almost immediately.

The bus had not even crossed the Delhi border and entered Uttar Pradesh, when she complained of leg pain. Doctors were called and she said she would join the bus a few days later and returned to New Delhi.


This is the sorry state of affairs in the Congress, a senior party leader told Rediff.com and said it was ironic that the party claimed Congress is the alternate in UP.