E-Paper
Arvinder Singh Lovely to contest Lok Sabha polls on BJP ticket? His reply
Arvinder Singh Lovely has blamed the Congress party's alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi, for his resignation.
Hours after he quit as the Congress party's Delhi chief, Arvinder Singh Lovely on Sunday replied to a query on his alleged future plans with the Bharatiya Janata Party, saying his resignation mustn't be linked to discontent over Lok Sabha tickets. The stalwart stressed that Congress workers in the national capital never gave a "clean chit" to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or the credit for building schools and hospitals.
Arvinder Singh Lovely, who became the party's Delhi chief in 2023, clarified that he had only resigned as the chief of the party in the national capital. Amid allegations that he might become BJP's Lok Sabha candidate from Delhi, he said he wasn't joining any other political party.
Arvinder Singh Lovely has blamed the Congress party's alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi for his resignation.
Arvind Kejriwal and his India Against Corruption associates had founded the AAP in 2012, after his massive agitation against corruption fizzled out. He first came to power in 2013, after running a bitter campaign against the Sheila Dikshit government. He had also accused senior Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, of corruption and promised to send them to jail.
"I resigned as Delhi Congress chief. I want to clarify that I have not resigned over discontent over tickets (for Lok Sabha polls)... We (Congress and AAP) are contesting the (Lok Sabha) polls together but the Congress and its workers never gave a clean chit (to AAP) or gave them the credits to build schools and hospitals," he said today at a press conference.
He said he felt the pain of the Congress workers in Delhi.
"Mentioning the principles and the pain felt by the Congress workers, I have resigned from the post of Delhi Congress chief. I want to thank the Congress workers who came to meet me," he added.
He responded to AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj's claim that he would contest the elections on a BJP ticket.
"I thank Saurabh Bharadwaj for his wishes. I think he makes the decisions on behalf of other parties. I have clearly said that I have resigned from the post of Delhi Congress chief," he said.
Meanwhile, the Congress high command has accepted Lovely's resignation.
"His resignation has been accepted by the Congress High Command with immediate effect... We might face some challenges after Arvinder Singh Lovely's resignation. But that does not mean any of our work will be halted or that our candidates might lose... I stopped him at many places because the people who should not have been promoted were getting promoted. And it caused a demoralising effect on the other workers of the party," said Haryana Congress in-charge, Deepak Babaria.
What Arvinder Singh Lovely said in his resignation letter
In his resignation letter, Lovely said the Delhi unit of the Congress was against the party's alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party. He claimed that Kejriwal's party had come into existence after levelling false, fabricated and malafide corruption charges against the Congress party.
Also read: BJP's reaction to Arvinder Lovely's resignation involves AAP's Sonia Gandhi arrest promise
He also slammed Congress's North East Delhi candidate Kanhaiya Kumar for praising Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.
"In direct contradiction to the true factual position and the misery of Delhi Citizens, he endorsed the false propaganda of AAP in regard to the supposed works done by them in education, health, road and electricity sectors," he said.
He said the alliance was a compromise and was not formed because of AAP's "false propaganda of the development of Delhi".
He also claimed that decisions made by the Delhi unit of the Congress were being stalled by the Central leadership.
With inputs from ANI, PTI
