Modi factor will not work in Delhi polls, says Congress leader Arvinder Singh Lovely

New Delhi: The Congress party might have been reduced to 8 seats in Delhi assembly but it has not dampened the spirit and enthusiasm of Arvinder Singh Lovely, the party's new state president. Lovely is confident that his party will make a comeback in Delhi assembly with majority because people, according to him, will soon realize that 15 years of Congress rule was better and more development- oriented than what they have seen and experienced in the last 8-9 months. In an exclusive interview to India TV Digital, Lovely ruled out any possibility of Prime Minister Narendra Modi emerging as a factor in Delhi assembly elections. Lovely was extremely critical of Arvind Kejriwal and AAP and said that they have reduced themselves to become the B-team of BJP and are power hungry. Lovely answered questions on a number of issues ranging from Congress support to AAP to the leadership debate in Delhi Congress and the party's prospects in assembly elections as and when it is held. Here goes the full text of the interview: Q: Your party ruled Delhi for 15 long years but Congress was wiped out in assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Delhi. In Lok Sabha elections, you could not manage second position in even one Lok Sabha constituency. Who should be held responsible? Lovely: Since our party was in power in Delhi for 15 years and at the Centre for 10 years, there was a definite anti-incumbency against us. I also have no doubt that the disinformation campaign launched against us coupled with the false promises made by our opponents- like they'll give cheap electricity, free water and that they will eradicate corruption with a magic wand - went against us. From our end, we failed to convey our message effectively to the people and we had to pay for that. All the reasons responsible for our defeat in December were there in April elections as well. Therefore we were not expecting very good results in Lok Sabha elections. Now the people of Delhi have seen the rule of both the parties. One party had said that they will make power cheaper by 50 percent while the other party had promised to make power cheaper by 30 percent. But the reality is that Delhi is today witnessing load shedding for 5-6 hours. These two parties used to make allegations that Congress was hand in glove with power companies and that the Congress government was giving undue money to power companies in the name of subsidies. When AAP assumed power, they also continued with the same policy of extending subsidies to the people of Delhi. Even the BJP is today doing exactly the same thing. Now people are asking BJP why they were making those allegations in first place. I want both the parties to tender unconditional apology to the people of Delhi. Why because they misled the people by repeatedly telling them that the Congress style of subsidy was wrong. Today both of them believe that there is no other way except the path adopted by Congress. Q: There is a perception that politics is getting bipolar in Delhi with BJP and AAP being the two poles and that Congress has got completely marginalized in the state. Lovely: This is not true. Those who are saying this are completely mistaken. The upcoming elections will prove this. Don't think that the people of Delhi are fools. We had done a lot of development in our 15 years of rule. We had set up world class Bus Q-shelters but today their roofs have blown over and nobody is there to take care. You will find broken signages all over. In last 8 months, the entire administration has come to a standstill. Senior citizens are not getting their pensions. Ration cards are not being made in Delhi for the last 8 months. The Annashree scheme launched by Congress has been wound up by BJP government. Therefore, don't consider people of Delhi as ‘fools' who could be easily misled by two sets of people. Q: If you did such good work during your tenure, why didn't people of Delhi vote for you? Lovely: Don't forget that we were in power for 15 long years. We have accepted the verdict of the people in both assembly and Lok Sabha polls. We supported the party that got votes of the people, despite our reluctance, so that they could work for the people. But he (Kejriwal) ran way from shouldering the responsibility and resigned as Chief Minister of Delhi for his personal ambitions. Even today he lies when he tells the people that we did not allow him to work. The fact is that I did not meet him during his 49 days tenure as Delhi CM. Neither did I call him in that period. So how can he say that Congress party stopped him from doing work? And he is no longer saying anything about the Janlokpal Bill for which he claims to have resigned from the CM post. Q: Your strategy behind supporting AAP was to stop BJP at any cost. But it seems to have done more damage to you as your minority vote bank , especially Muslims, has shifted to him. Lovely: No, it's not correct. In assembly elections, AAP had got 28 percent votes. At that time, Muslims had voted en-bloc for us. In Lok Sabha elections, Muslim votes were definitely divided and a major chunk voted for AAP. Despite that, AAP could manage only 31 percent votes. What does it mean? It means that their supporters in large numbers deserted them. Even today, there is no consistency in his stand. One day, he says that Congress MLAs are defecting. Next day, he says AAP MLAs are defecting. Some other day, he comes to Congress for support. What do you think of the people of Delhi? Don't consider them that unintelligent. Q: Do you regret extending support to Arvind Kejriwal for government formation? Lovely: We had taken a correct decision. In a democracy, if people vote for a party, especially those which had no background, then it has to be accepted. But you have seen the way he told lies, one after the other. He had promised to regularize those working on contract but after becoming Chief Minister, he even refused to meet them. He did not even move their files. Today they are on the verge of losing their jobs. It's because of his myopic decision that ‘Annashree' has come to a close. People are not getting pension. One day he says he will not take bail but the next day he says he'll take bail. His list of U-turns is very long. For last two months, people of Delhi are in deep trouble because of power outage and lack of water availability, price-rise has skyrocketed, rail fares have gone up but he has no time to stage a single protest on these issues. AAP will stage protest only for holding early polls so that Kejriwal could get back the CM's chair. So Aam Aadmi Party is no longer a party of Aam Aadmi. For them, the party has become a medium to grab power only. Had this not been the case, they would not have approached the Congress again seeking support for government formation. Congress party has never changed its stand on Janlokpal bill. Our stand remains the same. It's they who have abandoned the issue of Janlokpal bill for which this party was formed. Q: Is there any possibility of Congress extending support to AAP once again? If not, what is the solution to the stalemate? Lovely: No way. We have made it very clear that we'll not extend support to anybody. We can't support BJP and we'll not support AAP. The only solution is elections. There should be fresh elections in the state. Q: We have heard of so many allegations and counter-allegations of horse trading in Delhi. AAP legislators accused BJP of offering them bribe of Rs. 20 Crore while one of your MLAs accused of AAP of breaking your party. What is happening in Delhi? Lovely: AAP approached our MLA and asked him to convince our party high command. As far as Congress is concerned, nobody has the power to break our party. We are a very old party and we are committed to ideology and commitments of the party. We have not formed this party four days back by wearing caps. It's impossible to split the Congress. Q: You always talk about secularism. Don't you think you should join hands with AAP for the sake of secularism? Lovely: When were they secular? While Congress is busy staging protest, they have never staged any protest against the Modi government. They are the B-team of BJP. They fielded their candidates in Lok Sabha so that the votes of secular and forward-looking people get divided and the BJP gets the benefit. It harmed our chances in Lok Sabha polls.Q: Are you saying that there is a hidden understanding between BJP and AAP? Lovely: I have nothing to say. You tell me, have they staged any protest against Modi government? A person who did not care for CM post, a person who staged a sit-in outside Rail Bhavan demanding transfer of a couple of policemen, did not get a day for staging protest against the Modi govt? They will stage protest once again when elections will be announced for Delhi assembly. They stage protest only for grabbing power. Why is it that all their members are crossing over to BJP? What they are actually doing is ‘scripted politics'. Q: BJP still believes that Narendra Modi will be a factor in Delhi assembly elections. Do you believe that ‘Modi factor' will work in Delhi? Lovely: Will Modi become the Chief Minister of Delhi? They should not be mistaken. Narendra Modi had promised to control price-rise within days of coming into power but just see what has happened. Price-rise has crossed all limits. As a Chief Minister, he used to write to the PM that railway fares should not be hiked as it's a mode of transportation for the common man. The first decision he took after becoming Prime Minister was to raise railway fares and the quantum of hike was unprecedented. It was the highest since independence. He used to accuse Congress govt of offering biryani to Pakistan leaders when our soldiers were being beheaded by the Pakistani army. I want to ask him whether he invited Nawaz Sharif to eat ‘Khichadi'? Firing is taking place non-stop on borders but nothing is being done. So people have now realized that there is a big difference between what Modi said and what he is actually doing. The Uttarakhand results have proved it. In the Lok Sabha elections, we had lost all the seats but within one month, we have staged a comeback and emerged victorious in by-polls for all three assembly seats. It means that people are not happy with Modi government's functioning. Q: Coming to the Congress party, people say that there is too much of factionalism in the party. You have a group which is loyal to former CM Sheila Dikshit, another group is loyal to you and Haroon Yousuf. What would you say on that? Lovely: See, there is only one leader in Congress and her name is Sonia Gandhi. And our vice president is Rahul Gandhi. We all have full confidence in their leadership and we will contest the elections unitedly under their leadership. Q: There have been demands from different state units that Priyanka Gandhi should take over the reins of party. What is your view on that? Is it time for Priyanka to step in? Lovely: We have won two Lok Sabha elections, three assembly elections in Delhi, two assembly elections in Haryana, three assembly elections in Maharashtra. Just because we lost one Lok Sabha elections, it can't be said that our leadership is weak. Our leadership is very strong and even today crores of people of India have faith in the leadership of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are our leaders and all of us are behind them. As far as Priyanka Gandhi is concerned, it's for her to take a decision. And it's for the party high command to take a decision.Q: There is a feeling in the Sikh community that the Congress government did nothing to punish the perpetrators of 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Lovely: The NDA government was in power for five years and once again they are in power. Let's see what they are going to do. As far as Congress is concerned, the party has won 6 elections in Delhi – two Lok Sabha elections, three assembly elections and one Municipal election. It would not have been possible to win these elections if we had not received Sikh support. Congress has given maximum number of Sikh MLAs. There can be no two views on the fact that those responsible for 1984 riots should be brought to justice. I'm hoping that Modi ji will provide justice to the victims. We have to remember the fact that there are three important organs in the country – judiciary, executive and legislature. And none of these three can interfere in each other's work. Congress has never interfered in judicial process. It's not only about 1984 riots; Congress has never shielded any of its leaders in corruption cases as well. Q: If elections are held today, what will be the issues on which you will seek votes from Delhiites? Lovely: We'll continue the development work that we had done in 15 years of our rule. We completely changed the face of Delhi, we regularized the unauthorized colonies but now it has been stopped, We had to give ownership to JJ (jhuggi-jhonpri) colonies but nothing is moving on that, We had made Delhi free of power-cuts and load-shedding but today there is outage of 5-6 hours, the same is the case with water, they had promised to make electricity and water cheaper but they are not even discussing it today. We'll go to people with all these issues. One more thing, it's possible that some gaps, flaws might have been there during our 15 years rule but if we get the mandate again then we will offer a corruption free government. We'll regularize another 1500 colonies on the same pattern on which we had regularized 895 colonies. This government has stopped the Monorail project that we had initiated. We will resume Anna Shree programme. We wanted to make Delhi a world -class city and these are the issues on which we will seek votes in Delhi. Q: You have confessed that some of your support base has moved away from Congress. What is your strategy to win them back? Lovely: Congress stands with the truth. We'll go to the people with the truth. We'll tell them the reality. We'll ask them to compare our 15 years of rule with that of last 8 months. One rain in the entire season created such havoc that sisters could not reach their brothers' homes to tie Rakhi on their wrists. The PWD that functions directly under Home Ministry when there is no elected government could not manage that. What kind of governance is this? Q: What kind of mandate will you expect if assembly polls are held today? Lovely: The people of Delhi will have to decide what kind of Delhi do they want. Delhi, which was known for development , or today's Delhi where senior citizens are not getting pension, rates of electricity and water have increased?The Congress will get l majority in elections. I am very confident. I am not saying this because Congress ruled Delhi for 15 years. Let people compare the work of our MLAs with that of BJP and AAP MLAs in the last 9 months. They should vote for those who delivered the best.Q: Who will be the main challenger for Congress in these assembly polls if you are so confident of your victory? Lovely: It'll vary from seat to seat but it will be mainly a contest between Congress and BJP. Q: Don't you consider AAP an opponent in coming assembly elections? Lovely: If a party will be in the contest even after telling so many lies, then only God can save Delhi and this country. Q: Finally, What will be your message to the people of Delhi? Lovely: I'll say just one thing. When you go to vote, just keep one thing in mind. What promises political parties had made before elections and what did they deliver after coming to power. Don't you think that the development work that was going on for last 15 years has come to a halt? Has Delhi not gone behind by 2-3 years in last 8 months? Even the work of Delhi Metro, that was famous for completing work before schedule, has started getting delayed. The people of Delhi should cast their vote after giving due consideration to all these points.

Modi factor will not work in Delhi polls, says Congress leader Arvinder Singh Lovely

New Delhi: The Congress party might have been reduced to 8 seats in Delhi assembly but it has not dampened the spirit and enthusiasm of Arvinder Singh Lovely, the party's new state president. Lovely is confident

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