Veteran Congress politician Sheila Dikshit died at a hospital in Delhi on Saturday at the age of 81. Dikshit had made history becoming the longest-serving chief minister of Delhi, serving three straight terms as chief minister from 1998 to 2013.
Dikshit is credited with improving Delhi's green cover and introducing CNG-powered buses to reduce air pollution. She was also lauded for her work on introducing the Delhi Metro system. Dikshit lost the 2013 Assembly election to Arvind Kejriwal's fledgling Aam Aadmi Party, amid public disenchantment over the Commonwealth Games scam and Nirbhaya gang-rape case of 2012.
Dikshit's son Sandeep also was an MP. Dikshit made a surprise return to Delhi politics, by contesting in the Lok Sabha polls this year, but lost from North-East Delhi to Manoj Tiwari of the BJP.