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The resignation of the Delhi Congress chief exposes chinks in the AAP-Congress alliance
Arvinder Singh Lovely's resignation as DPCC president has exposed issues within the AAP-Congress alliance, just weeks before the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi.
Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Arvinder Singh Lovely resigned from his post less than a month before all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi go to polls on May 25, citing internal friction and conflicts in Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-Congress alliance — a development that exposed chinks in the Opposition's armour.
On Tuesday, the post vacated by Lovely was filled by former Delhi MLA and Punjab Congress in-charge Devender Yadav. All India Congress Committee general secretary KC Venugopal announced Devender Yadav's appointment via a press statement. Yadav thanked Congress leaders for "the faith they have bestowed in me yet again." "Will try my best to tread the coveted and ideological vision the party has laid for me and give my 100%!” Yadav said in a post on X.
Lovely, who sent a letter of resignation to Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge on April 27, said that party leaders did not care about the simmering conflicts. Instead of pacifying the disgruntled party leaders after "outsiders" were fielded as party candidates in the Lok Sabha polls, attempts were being made to sack them, Lovely claimed. Talking to HT, Lovely flagged several issues affecting the AAP-Congress alliance.
In the resignation letter, Lovely cited the alliance with AAP as the second reason out of 11 for his decision to leave the post of the Delhi Congress chief. “The Delhi Congress Unit was against an alliance with a party which was formed on the sole basis of levelling false, fabricated and malafide corruption charges against the Congress Party and in turn, whose cabinet ministers are presently in jail on corruption charges. Despite that, the party decided to ally with the AAP in Delhi. We respected the party's final decision. Not only did I publicly back the decision, but I also ensured that the full state unit fell in line with the High Command's final order. On instructions from the AICC general secretary (organisation), I even went to the extent of visiting Mr Kejriwal's residence on the night of his arrest along with Me Subash Chopra and Mr Sandeep Dikshit, despite the same being against my position on the matter,” Lovely stated in the letter.
Lovely's resignation came as a blow to both the Congress as well as the AAP-Congress alliance, which is trying to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has held all seven parliamentary seats of the city since 2014.
The life and work of Arvinder Singh Lovely
On August 31, 2023, the former Delhi minister was appointed the president of the Delhi Congress, one of the three key political parties in the Capital. It marked the beginning of his second stint as Delhi Congress chief.
Lovely was first elected as MLA in 1998. Since 1998, he served four terms as MLA representing the Gandhi Nagar constituency in East Delhi till 2013 and worked as a cabinet minister under Sheila Dikshit's government between 2003 to 2013. Lovely served as the president of the Delhi Congress from 2013 to 2015. After the Congress badly lost the 2015 Delhi assembly election, he left the party and eventually joined the BJP in April 2017. Lovely returned to the Congress in February 2018.
He emerged as a prominent Sikh face of the Delhi Congress and gained a tall stature in the politics of the city-state.
Since taking over as the Congress president, Lovely tried to re-energise party workers, by holding several rallies, especially a large rally in East Delhi which was addressed by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in February, kicking off the party’s preparations for the Lok Sabha polls.
In its quest to regain the lost political ground in the city, the Congress held a public rally in Tilak Nagar in one of the areas hit by the violence during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in October last year, despite protests from sections of riot-affected people.
Lovely was involved in meetings between senior Congress and AAP leaders to finalise the seat-sharing deal and was present at the press conference in the Constitution Club of India when the two parties officially announced their seat-sharing deal. Under the AAP-Congress deal, AAP is contesting New Delhi, East Delhi, West Delhi, and South Delhi seats while Congress is contesting North East Delhi, Chandni Chowk, and North West seats.
On several occasions, Lovely said the Congress workers would work to ensure the victory of not only the three Congress candidates but also the four AAP candidates, and projected the AAP-Congress bloc as the winning combination. When Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested in the alleged liquor policy scam case, Lovely, along with former president Subhash Chopra and former MP Sandeep Dikshit, went to Delhi CM’s residence to stand in solidarity with Kejriwal.
How Lovely's resignation shows the dents in the AAP-Congress alliance
Lovely is a key Sikh face of Congress in Delhi and enjoys the support of several important leaders. As many as 35 former MLAs arrived at his residence to meet him the day, he announced his resignation. A group of his supporters entered into a confrontation with former Okhla MLA Asif Mohammad Khan who alleged that Lovely resignation preceded a meeting of some Congress leaders with BJP leader Ramvir Singh Bidhuri.
Bidhuri denied the claims. “The resignation of Lovely has exposed that the INDIA bloc has surrendered even before the election. The resignation made it clear that Delhi Congress leaders were against the alliance at heart but due to pressure from Congress's high command, they unwillingly supported it. The opposition parties are demoralised. Under PM Narendra Modi's leadership, the BJP is headed to get 400 seats,” said Bidhuri.
However, former Delhi Congress chief Anil Chaudhary claimed that Lovely was hands in glove with the BJP and demanded disciplinary action against him, flagging factionalism and internal fault lines in the party weeks before the Lok Sabha polls when the party should have been united to take on the BJP.
There are speculations that more leaders may quit the party. A disturbed Congress unit is unlikely to offer any on-ground support to the AAP, let alone help own three candidates as much as they expect to win the polls.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said the AAP and Congress have formed an unnatural alliance due to BJP's fears. "The Congress is struggling with internal conflicts, and the AAP is battling corruption scandals. Delhi Congress has revolved against two of the three candidates; the party high command has fielded without considering the views of the local party unit. The BJP's priority is the development of the people, while the priority of these parties is managing conflicts. BJP is going to win all the seven seats in Delhi," said Kapoor.
The Congress-AAP alliance has begun fraying at the edges
On April 14, the Congress announced three candidates for Delhi — =youth leader Kanhaiya Kumar from North East Delhi, former MP Udit Raj from North West seat, and former MP JP Agarwal from Chandni Chowk.
Almost all leaders in the Delhi Congress accepted the fielding of JP Agarwal, who has represented the Chandni Chowk seat in the Lok Sabha in the past, and was an MP from North East Delhi between 2009 to 2014 besides serving as Rajya Sabha MP from Delhi in past.
Sections of the Delhi Congress did not accept the fielding of Kanhaiya Kumar and Udit Raj, claiming they were "outsiders". A group of Congress workers protested at the Delhi Congress office on April 22 against Udit Raj, some of them were also opposed to Kanhaiya Kumar.
Before the protests, former Delhi minister Raj Kumar Chauhan had arguments with Delhi Congress in-charge in a meeting at the latter’s residence over the candidature of Udit Raj. It prompted him to resign from the Congress.
These developments along with organisational issues such as the alleged inability of Lovely to appoint block presidents, and issues with the AAP-Congress alliance such as AAP candidates not using the pictures of Rahul Gandhi and Congress leaders in campaign materials prompted Lovely to put in his papers from the post of Delhi Congress chief.
In an interview to HT, Lovely explained that his resignation was not linked to him not being fielded as a candidate in the Lok Sabha polls. “I had publicly announced that I did not want to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Delhi in-charge had publicly welcomed that move as well,” said Lovely.
The way forward
Lovely said he is not against the AAP-Congress alliance. “The alliance does not hurt me. In the four seats that have gone to AAP, the candidates are not using the pictures of our leaders Rahul Gandhi, or Mallikarjun Kharge. But in the three seats that the Congress is contesting, our candidates are using pictures of Arvind Kejriwal. That hurt me, and that is why I said I do not want to continue any longer,” said Lovely, who added that he will continue to work as a common Congress worker.
AAP leaders have chosen not to publicly comment on the “internal conflicts” of Congress. AAP senior leader Sanjay Singh said: “I say this with responsibility that Lovely played a crucial role in our alliance with the Congress. I am not aware of the reasons for his contrary views now."
AAP minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said: "Congress is our alliance partner and this is an internal matter of the Congress party."
