Delhi Congress leader Arvinder Singh Lovely has stepped down from his position, stating that he felt pressured by the party’s general secretary in-charge, Deepak Babaria. In a letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Lovely expressed that he was being pushed to remove leaders who didn’t support Babaria’s leadership.
Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely announced his resignation from his position on Sunday, explaining that he felt constrained due to interference from a party official and disagreements over the alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi. In his resignation letter to Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, Lovely expressed his inability to carry on as the president of the Delhi Congress unit.
He mentioned that multiple party leaders raised concerns about how Deepak Babaria, the Congress’s general secretary in-charge for Delhi, was handling things. Lovely added that he felt immense pressure to remove those leaders who were critical of Babaria’s methods.
Arvinder Singh Lovely expressed his strong disapproval of the Congress party’s alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi. He mentioned that the entire Delhi Congress Unit was against the alliance due to AAP’s history of making false corruption allegations against the Congress party and having some of its own ministers imprisoned on corruption charges.
In his resignation letter, Lovely highlighted his opposition to joining forces with a party that was built on baseless accusations. Despite this disagreement, Lovely mentioned that he upheld the party’s decision and ensured that the Delhi Congress unit followed the directives from the party’s leadership. He even mentioned a gesture of goodwill by visiting Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence following his arrest on a certain occasion.
As part of the Congress-AAP alliance, the grand old party was given three Lok Sabha seats, with two of them, the North West and North East constituencies, going to unfamiliar candidates, according to Lovely. Udit Raj is the Congress-AAP joint candidate in North West Delhi, while Kanhaiya Kumar is contesting from the North East seat.
Arvinder Singh Lovely mentioned that the announcement of Raj and Kumar as candidates led to protests and unrest among Delhi Congress leaders and workers. Despite his efforts to calm the situation, he was instructed by Deepak Babaria to remove the dissatisfied leaders, leading to several heated exchanges between them.
Former Delhi Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely resigned from his post citing concerns over disrespectful remarks made by Udit Raj and media statements by Kanhaiya Kumar. Lovely criticized Kumar for praising the Delhi Chief Minister against party beliefs. He stated in his resignation letter that he couldn’t protect party workers’ interests. Lovely had previously served in ministerial roles under Sheila Dikshit and, after a brief stint with the BJP, rejoined the Congress in February 2018.