Lovely takes charge as Delhi Congress chief: ‘Will revive party’

Arvinder Singh Lovely said that the conditions in which the party has to fight its battle, there is no scope for tussles

Published on: Sep 14, 2023, 23:30:36 IST

By Paras Singh

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Congress leader Arvinder Singh Lovely formally took charge as the president of the party’s Delhi unit on Thursday and said that his first priorities will be to revive the party in the Capital, and fix its organisational structure.

Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely at the party office on Thursday. (Sanjeev Verma/HT)

Addressing party workers at the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) headquarters on DDU Marg, Lovely said that the conditions in which the party has to fight its battle, there is no scope for tussles. “We will have to work on our shortcomings, workers will have to be present on ground. We have ruled over Delhi over 15 years and now the city is being played with. From the greenest Capital, it has become the pollution capital,” he said, referring to the 15-year period between 1998 and 2013 in which a Congress government led by Sheila Dikshit ruled Delhi.

The Congress’s fortunes have since plummeted, with the party failing to win a single seat in the 70-member state assembly in the 2015 and 2020 elections, which were won by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Broaching the subject of a possible alliance with the AAP, as part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) political alliance, Lovely said it was the duty and responsibility of every Congress worker to follow the direction of the party high command, but there will be not compromise with the interests of people of Delhi.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paras Singh
Paras Singh is a New Delhi-based journalist with Hindustan Times, where he serves as Deputy Metro Editor. He reports on urban governance, the Delhi government, the Delhi BJP, water management, the environment, communities and city life. He joined Hindustan Times in 2021 after beginning his journalism career at The Times of India in 2016, where he covered civic bodies, the water and power sectors, and urban infrastructure. Over the last decade, some of his reporting has led to significant public impact, with investigations into environmental violations, corruption and illegal industrial activity contributing to multiple judicial interventions by the National Green Tribunal and the Delhi High Court. A graduate of St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi, Paras studied journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), New Delhi. Having extensively covered the capital's evolving civic and governance landscape, his recent work increasingly explores Delhi's history, built heritage, urban evolution and the relationship between people and place, alongside continuing to report on governance and public policy.Read More