On Saturday, less than a week after Arvinder Singh Lovely exited from his post as the Delhi Congress president, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This will be his second stint in the BJP after he left it to re-join the Congress in 2018.
“Everyone knows the condition in which I left the Congress. I had resigned with honesty and decided to sit at home. Many of my supporters, whom I met, urged me to not sit at home and join a strong party to fight for Delhi,” Mr. Lovely, speaking to the media shortly after he joined the BJP, said.
The former Delhi Minister had been at the helm of the Congress’ Delhi unit since August 2023. He was seen as being instrumental in injecting life back into the party by uniting its old guard.
Along with Mr. Lovely, former Congress MLAs Raj Kumar Chauhan, Naseeb Singh, Neeraj Basoya, and Amit Malik also joined the BJP.
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and senior BJP leaders issued BJP membership slips to the Congress leaders. Mr. Puri congratulated everyone on joining the BJP, stating that the popularity of the dignitaries in joining the BJP was undeniable, and their inclusion would no doubt strengthen the BJP in Delhi. He expressed hope that their joining the party would further bolster the BJP’s prospects in the ongoing elections.
Mr. Lovely pledged continuous contributions to the nation’s development, and the fight against corruption in Delhi. Mr. Basoya remarked that the alliances within Delhi were only about seat-sharing during elections, and there was no real connection between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress. He accused the AAP of branding the Congress as corrupt, only to join hands with the party later, as they themselves were submerged in corruption.
In a letter, while resigning from the Congress, Mr. Lovely had said: “I cannot protect the interests of the party workers, I see no reason to continue in the said post. Therefore, with great regret and an extremely leaden heart, I tender my resignation from the post of DPCC (Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee) president.”
In his letter, he stated that he had never been in favour of the Congress entering into an alliance in Delhi with the AAP.
The AAP and the Congress have agreed on a four-to-three seat sharing pact in Delhi.
Additionally, Mr. Lovely had also objected to the candidature of ‘outsiders’ in party for the Lok Sabha election. The Congress fielded Udit Raj, a BJP turncoat, from North West Delhi, and Kanhaiya Kumar from the North-East Delhi seat.
The now BJP leader had accused Mr. Raj of disrespecting party workers. Mr. Lovely said Mr. Kumar had been giving factually incorrect statements, praising Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal against the party line.
The Congress appointed Devender Yadav as the interim Delhi chief of the party.
Mr. Yadav criticised Mr. Lovely for his departure from the party. “I put Arvinder Singh Lovely in the category of an opportunist person. This is not the first time that he has tried to sabotage the Congress,” Mr. Yadav said, adding, “The party does not care much about such people. The Congress was strong before and will remain strong in the future as well. This is their habit. Whenever there is a chance, he [Lovely] has tried to cheat and there is no place for cheaters in the party.”
