Interview: Arvinder Singh Lovely, former delhi Cong president

Arvinder Singh Lovely resigned as Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president citing differences with party leadership, AAP alliance issues, and outsider candidates.

Arvinder Singh Lovely resigned from the post of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president on April 27, less than a month before Delhi goes to polls. The 55-year-old leader spoke to HT’s Alok KN Mishra about the many reasons he cited for his resignation in a four-page letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. Edited excerpts:

Arvinder Singh Lovely (Arvind Yadav/HT Photo)

Why did you resign from the post? Did it surprise you that your resignation was accepted on the same day?

I wrote a four-page resignation letter explaining all the reasons to the party president, such as differences with the Delhi in-charge, issues related to the Congress-AAP alliance, and fielding two outsider candidates by rejecting the views of Delhi unit leaders. As Delhi Congress president, I was not able to work to the best of my abilities due to these conditions. I do not know how the resignation letter was leaked to the media. My intention was not to talk about it to the media. I think the party should consider the points in the resignation letter and make amends. However, I also feel my resignation was accepted even before it was read (by the president). The in-charge (Deepak Babaria) gave statements against me and AAP leaders have been used to speak against me.

Did you resign because you were not 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.

What was your role in the Congress-AAP alliance? Are you opposed to it?

As the Delhi Congress president, my role was limited. I stood by the party line in the AAP-Congress alliance meetings. The fundamental emotions of Congress workers were against the alliance, but after the high command decided to go ahead with it, I tried to ensure that the Delhi unit fell in line with the decision. Congress leaders had openly opposed it and raised the issue of irregularities in the excise policy. I worked against all the odds to flow with the party decision.

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.

Why is there so much opposition against two of the three candidates Congress has fielded?

I am not against any candidate. Party workers preferred local candidates but they were ignored. During elections, some leaders who wish to contest but do not get the opportunity express their disappointment in various ways. But the Delhi in-charge wanted them sacked. That is not in the interest of the party.

Some Congress leaders have said you cheated the party just before the crucial Lok Sabha polls.

They asked me to sack Raj Kumar Chauhan (former Delhi minister) and Surender Kumar (former Delhi MLA). I told them we should talk to them, address grievances, and then take a decision. They wanted to take action against Sandeep Dikshit (former Congress MP), and I wanted the party to have a dialogue with him. I have been demanding the appointment of block presidents to strengthen the party. Is that in favour of the party or against the party?

Are you going to join any other party?

I never said that I was joining any other party. The Delhi Congress in charge said that I quit the post under pressure from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). I did not say a word against him. I just wrote that our ways of working are different. I joined the BJP (in 2017) and returned to Congress (in 2018). If removing the pictures of Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi from publicity materials is loyalty to the party, I do not believe in such loyalty.

What is your role in the Congress now?

I have resigned from the post of the Delhi Congress president, and not from the Congress. I want to serve as a small party worker. I will play the role of a party worker.

There is speculation you want to form a new political forum with a few Congress leaders.

I want to work as a worker of the party if they will allow me to. After I resigned, around 35 former Congress MLAs came to meet me besides hundreds of party workers. It left them scared. They came to meet me because of my rapport with them, the party should not be afraid of that.

Did you discuss the issues with senior party leaders before deciding to resign?

You see my X account. I have not posted for days. If the Delhi unit chief is not posting regularly and no one is bothered, that means everyone is busy. I challenge people to prove the points I raised in my resignation wrong. I always said the AAP-Congress alliance would win. I was asked to visit Kejriwal’s house (the day he was arrested), and I went. Sandeep Dikshit whose mother (Sheila Dikshit) was targeted by AAP also went there. I was not the president when the INDIA bloc was formed in June.