Delhi Congress chief Lovely resigns

New Delhi, April 28

In a setback to the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the party’s Delhi unit president, Arvinder Singh Lovely, resigned from his post on Sunday, citing the alliance with the AAP as one of the reasons.

Lovely’s resignation came days after former Delhi minister and All-India Congress Committee member Rajkumar Chauhan had resigned from the party following a meeting of the Delhi Congress’ disciplinary committee. He also demanded the removal of All-India Congress Committee (AICC) incharge Deepak Babaria.

A minister in the Sheila Dikshit government, Lovely was appointed as the Delhi Congress chief in August last year.

In his resignation letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Lovely expressed his disagreement with the decision to ally with the AAP, a party he accused of making false corruption charges against the Congress.

Lovely said the Delhi Congress unit was against the alliance with AAP and highlighted that all unanimous decisions taken by senior Delhi unit leaders had been “unilaterally vetoed” by Babaria.

Despite his reservations about the alliance, Lovely publicly supported the decision and ensured the compliance of the state unit. However, he expressed his discontent with the comments made by North East Delhi candidate Kanhaiya Kumar, praising the AAP government’s performance, which he believed contradicted the party’s stance.

In his letter, he also highlighted the press conference during which the Congress introduced its candidates. Some party workers had shown dissent to the candidature of Udit Raj from North West Delhi and Kanhaiya Kumar from North East Delhi.

“I tried to diffuse the situation by publicly stating that in a democratic party system, all members have a right to voice their dissent… if the situation was bad it was made worse by the North West Delhi candidate by making derogatory and anti-party statements,” he added.

Some party workers even gathered outside Lovely’s residence to raise slogans against Babaria. He, on the other hand, said all DPCC members were taken into confidence, and Lovely should have raised his concerns in front of the party.

“He (Lovely) was part of all committees and panels; he should have raised his objections back then. Anyone who distances themselves from any party or post tends to find a reason to do so,” Babaria told mediapersons.

A scuffle also broke out outside Lovely’s residence as his supporters allegedly pushed former Congress MLA Asif Muhammad Khan who had reached there after Lovely’s resignation.

Khan said, “This is an internal matter, and Lovely should have reached out to the Congress president. By releasing his resignation letter in the media, he is providing an advantage to the BJP.”

He further alleged that the BJP would replace its East Delhi candidate, Harsh Malhotra, and Lovely would be declared as its candidate from the constituency by the party.

Elected MLA in 1998

• Arvinder Singh Lovely was first elected an MLA in 1998 from Gandhi Nagar
• He served as the minister of transport, education, urban development and revenue in the Congress government in Delhi
• He was appointed Delhi Congress chief in August last year

Not joining any party

Some people are spreading misinformation that I was upset over ticket (distribution). It is not like that. I am not joining any political party. — Arvinder Singh Lovely, Cong leader