Why Arvinder Singh Lovely Resigned As Delhi Congress Chief Ahead of Lok Sabha Polls | 3 POINTS

New Delhi: Arvinder Singh Lovely on Sunday, April 28, resigned from the post of Delhi unit chief of Congress party. This comes days after he opted out of the Lok Sabha race. Lovely has been a prominent political figure under Sheila Dixit's government and has held ministerial portfolios including Education, Transport, Urban Development and Revenue. 

This comes days after former Delhi minister and AICC member Rajkumar Chauhan resigned from the party following an altercation with Babria.

Lovely said in his resignation letter that he has taken numerous steps to revive the party’s unit in the national capital after he was appointed the Delhi unit chief. He said that he “finds himself handicapped” as he resigned from the post. Lovely wished to contest from the North East Delhi Lok Sabha seat but later withdrew, said reports. 

Who is Arvinder Singh Lovely? 

Arvinder Singh Lovely was first elected as an MLA in 1998 from Gandhi Nahar. He served as the minister of Transport, Education, Urban Development and Revenue in the Congress government in Delhi. The Congress had fielded Lovely against BJP's Gautam Gambhir and AAP's Atishi from the East Delhi constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. 

Arvinder Singh Lovely drifted away from Delhi politics after Congress loss in 2015, however returned in 2017. He was appointed the Delhi Congress chief in August 2023. In his resignation letter he mentioned several reasons in details which forced him to resign from the post of Delhi Pradesh Congress Chief. 

Interference by General Secretary

Lovely, in his resignation letter, alleged interfernce from party's general secretary in the working of Delhi unit. He said that he has not been allowed to appoint office bearers in the national capital.

"All unanimous decisions taken by the Senior Delhi Congress leaders have been unilaterally vetoed by the AICC General Secretary (Delhi In-Charge)..My request for appointment for a veteran leader as media head of the DPCC was blatantly rejected. Till date, AICC General Secetary (Delhi In-Charge) has not allowed the DPCC to appoint all block presidents in the city," he said.

Was Against Alliance With AAP

Lovely said that the Delhi unit of Congress was against the alliance with Aam Aadmi Party. "The Delhi Congress Unit was against an alliance with a Party which was formed on the sole basis of leveling false, fabricated and malafide corruption charges against the Congress Party. Despite that, the Party made a decision to ally with the AAP in Delhi...," said Arvinder Singh Lovely in his resignation letter.

He said that despite opposing the alliance decision, he followed the instructions of party high command and ensured that the entire Delhi Congress unit followed the same. He said that he went to Kejriwal's residence on the orders of AICC General Secretary (Organisation).

Lovely on Congress' Candidate Pick 

Lovely also spoke on the seat-sharing arrangement with the Congress party. He said that he withdrew his name from the list of potential candidates to make way for senior party leaders, but was disappointed as the party picked outsiders.

Lovely named two seats- North East Delhi from where the Congress has fielded former JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar and North West Delhi Lok Sabha seat-from where Udit Raj has been fielded.

"In order to ensure that the tickets are alloted to the other Senior Congress Colleagues, I publicly withdrew my name and opted out from being considered as a potential candidate. Out of these 3 seats, while rejecting the views of the PCC, all Observers and the Local Party workers, the North-West Delhi and North East Delhi seats were given to 2 candidates who were total strangers to the Delhi Congress and Party policies," said Lovely in his resignation letter.