Arvinder Singh Lovely today (April 28) said he has only resigned as chief of the Congress' Delhi unit and is not joining any other political party. His clarification came after Congress ex-MLA Asif Mohammad Khan claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would field Lovely from the East Delhi constituency, replacing Harsh Malhotra.
"I have only resigned as Delhi Congress chief and I am not joining any political party," he said at a press conference at his residence in the national capital.
Lovely said his resignation reflected the pain of Congress workers saddened by the fact that the "ideals they had been fighting for during the last seven to eight years" were being compromised.
"We are fighting the elections together but never did the Congress workers say that we are giving a clean chit to them or giving them credit for building schools and hospitals, which is far from the reality," Lovely said, referring to the party's tie-up with the AAP in Delhi for the Lok Sabha polls.
In a setback to the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Lovely resigned as the party's Delhi unit chief, citing the alliance with the AAP as one of the reasons. He said the Congress' Delhi unit was against the alliance but the party high command went ahead with it.
"The Delhi Congress unit was against an alliance with a party which was formed on the sole basis of levelling false, fabricated and mala fide corruption charges against the Congress party. Half of the cabinet ministers (of the party) are presently in jail on corruption charges," he said in his resignation letter sent to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday.
"Despite that, the party (Congress) made a decision to ally with the AAP in Delhi. We respected the party's final decision. I even went to the extent of visiting Arvind Kejriwal's residence on the night of his arrest along with Subash Chopra and Sandeep Dikshit, despite the same being against my position on the matter," he said.
Know more about the resignation and politicos reaction
The resignation of Congress' Delhi unit chief Arvinder Singh Lovely in protest against the alliance with AAP brought the party's factional feud into the open, with a section of leaders on Sunday demanding the removal of AICC in-charge Deepak Babaria. While the Aam Aadmi Party termed it as an internal matter of the Congress, the BJP said Lovely has listened to the voice of his conscience as no patriot can stand with those who talk about dividing the country and claimed there would be further repercussions for the Congress.
In his resignation letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Lovely said the Delhi Congress unit was against the alliance with AAP and that all unanimous decisions taken by the senior Delhi unit leaders have been "unilaterally vetoed" by Babaria. Some party workers gathered outside Lovely's residence and raised slogans against AICC's Delhi in-charge Babaria who, meanwhile, stressed that all DPCC leaders were taken into confidence on the alliance issue and Lovely should have aired his views before the party panels.
“Ahead of forming the alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi, the DPCC leaders and workers were taken into confidence. "He (Lovely) was part of all the committees and panels; he should have raised his objections back then. Anyone who distances themselves from any party or posts tends to find a reason to do so,” Babaria told reporters.
A scuffle broke outside Lovely's residence here as his supporters allegedly pushed ex-Congress MLA Asid Mohammed Khan who had reached there after Lovely's resignation. Khan said, "This was an internal matter and Lovely should have reached out to the Congress president. By releasing his resignation letter in the media, he is providing an advantage to the BJP." He alleged that BJP will replace its East Delhi candidate Harsh Malhotra and Lovely will be declared by the party as its candidate from the constituency.
At a press conference later, Lovely made it clear that he has only resigned from the party post and is not joining any political party. In his resignation letter, he also said that tickets were given to two people who are total strangers to the Delhi Congress and party policies while referring to the candidature of Kanhaiya Kumar from Northeast Delhi and Udit Raj from Northwest Delhi constituencies.
Lovely criticises Kanhaiya Kumar
Lovely also criticised Kanhaiya Kumar for heaping praise on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is behind bars in a money laundering case. When asked about the development, Kumar said, “I don’t know. I don’t have any information. Let me gather the information from the party and then I will tell you.”
Virendra Sachdeva on Lovely's resignation
Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said that Lovely has responded to the voice of his conscience and the implosion within the Congress started the moment the party announced its Lok Sabha candidates.
"No patriot can stand with a person who talks about dividing the country and who stands with the enemies of the nation. I think this line will be drawn further as many others are raising their voice against the way the Congress has distributed its tickets," he said.
Former Delhi minister Rajkumar Chauhan, who resigned from the party on Wednesday, said Babaria should be removed as the AICC in-charge of Delhi. "Lovely has resigned. I have also resigned. The Delhi in-charge told me to get out of a meeting. Remove Delhi in-charge Deepak Babaria from Delhi and save Congress," Chauhan said.
Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit, the son of former chief minister Sheila Dikshit, said, "He is pained. There is a personal pain as a Congress worker and as Delhi Congress'' chief. I think attention needs to be paid to what he said."
Former Congress MLA Neeraj Basoya said, "Lovely has resigned after seeing the sentiments of the Congress workers. Babaria's style of functioning has created problems everywhere, be it Delhi or Haryana, and all the workers are angry."
AAP senior leader Saurabh Bharadwaj said it was an internal matter of their senior ally Congress. "It won't be appropriate for me to comment on the matter. AAP is fighting on the four seats it is contesting with full strength and we are hopeful that people will vote for the I.N.D.I.A bloc candidates on all the seven seats in Delhi," he said.
Senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Harsh Vardhan said it was inevitable as the grassroots workers had not accepted the AAP-Congress alliance. "I guarantee that after their defeat on June 4, the leaders of this alliance will start abusing each other again. Arvinder Lovely Ji's departure is just the beginning. The conscience of many such grassroots workers will awaken now," he wrote on X in Hindi.
Congress leader Surendra Rajput said Kharge will decide the future course of action after Lovely's resignation. "I would only say that our alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party happened with his participation and as per his wish. The general elections are going on and one should keep personal expectations and aspirations aside for now,” he said.
Senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Harsh Vardhan said it was inevitable as the grassroots workers had not accepted the AAP-Congress alliance. Congress leader Surendra Rajput said Kharge will decide the future course of action after Lovely's resignation.
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