In a big jolt to the Congress amid the Lok Sabha elections, its Delhi unit chief Arvinder Singh Lovely resigned criticising the party's alliance with Aam Aadmi Party and the statements of Congress candidates Kanhaiya Kumar and Udit Raj. In his resignation letter to Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge, Arvinder Singh Lovely lashed out at Kanhaiya Kumar for heaping praise on Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is behind bars in a money laundering case.
When asked about Arvinder Singh Lovely's resignation, Udit Raj said, “Yaad rakha meri baat (remember my words), now the party will stand... The one who was an MLA for 15 years and a minister for 20 years. The party was struggling but what did he do to raise the party? The common workers got distressed because of factionalism and the franchise system.”
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Udit Raj added, “Because of someone coming or going, nothing happens to the Congress. The party is big, the individual is not.”
In his letter, Arvinder Singh Lovely' also said that he found himself “handicapped” as all unanimous decisions taken by senior Delhi unit leaders have been “unilaterally vetoed” by AICC Delhi in-charge Deepak Babaria.
{{/usCountry}}In his letter, Arvinder Singh Lovely' also said that he found himself “handicapped” as all unanimous decisions taken by senior Delhi unit leaders have been “unilaterally vetoed” by AICC Delhi in-charge Deepak Babaria.
{{/usCountry}}The Delhi Congress unit was against the alliance with AAP but the party high command went ahead with it, Lovely said as his resignation brought to the fore the party's factional feud.
With a section of leaders demanding the removal of Babaria, the AICC Delhi in-charge said it was “unfortunate” that Lovely's resignation came at a time when the general elections in the country were underway, but asserted that it won't affect the Congress, while the Aam Aadmi Party termed it an internal matter of its ally.
The BJP said it was an “unnatural alliance” forged by the leadership of AAP and Congress to “shield their corruption”, but their party workers had not accepted it.
Lovely had resigned from the post of Delhi Congress president in 2015 as well. He joined the BJP in 2017 but returned to the Congress almost nine months later.
He claimed that the DPCC was not informed about the decision to field Kanhaiya Kumar from the North East Delhi seat and Udit Raj from the North West Delhi seat before the party's high command made the official announcement. He also called them “total strangers” to the Delhi Congress and party policies.
Lovely said even though the Delhi Congress unit was against the alliance with AAP, he publicly backed it and even withdrew his name as a potential candidate.