Ex-Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely joins BJP
What's the story
Former Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) President Arvinder Singh Lovely has joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) just days after resigning from his post. Lovely had resigned over the Congress's alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which he claimed was "formed on the sole basis of leveling false, fabricated, and malafide corruption charges against the Congress." At the time, he had said that he was only resigning from his post and did not intend to join another party.
Party switch
4 other ex-Congress leaders join BJP alongside Lovely
Along with Lovely, four other former Congress leaders also joined the BJP in the presence of Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. The leaders include MLAs Rajkumar Chauhan, Neeraj Basoya, Naseeb Singh, and Amit Malik, who previously held the position of Delhi Youth Congress chief. In their resignation letters, Basoya and Singh also criticized the Congress's decision to ally with the AAP in Delhi and expressed displeasure at the nomination of Udit Raj from the North-West Delhi constituency.
Twitter Post
Lovely resigned from his post on April 28
#WATCH | Congress leader Arvinder Singh Lovely joins BJP at the party headquarters in Delhi in the presence of Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
— ANI (@ANI) May 4, 2024
Arvinder Singh Lovely resigned from the position of Delhi Congress president on April 28. pic.twitter.com/3OJXisQIEd
Alliance
Congress, AAP alliance in Delhi
The Congress and AAP, both members of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), are contesting the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi together. Under the alliance, the AAP will contest four of the seven Lok Sabha seats, while the Congress will contest three. Of the three seats allotted to Congress, one has been given to Raj from the North-West Delhi constituency, while Kanhaiya Kumar has been allotted the North-East Delhi seat. Both are considered "outsiders" by Delhi Congress workers.
Career
Lovely had left the Congress in 2017 too
While Lovely's move comes as a shock, this is not his first run-in with the BJP. Lovely had left the Congress in 2017 too, to join the BJP, but returned within a few months. The move was preceded by the Congress's poll debacle in 2015. In that Delhi assembly election, the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP decimated the BJP and the Congress by a landslide victory, securing 67 of the 70 seats.