Former Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely. | Photo Credit: File Photo
Former Congress MLAs Neeraj Basoya and Naseeb Singh quit the party on Wednesday. In separate resignation letters to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, they said they had resigned over the alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi. They also criticised the party leadership’s decision to give tickets to “outsiders” such as BJP turncoat Udit Raj and former CPI leader Kanhaiya Kumar and said that they were faced with a conflict over the “mandate to praise” AAP, which the Congress is fighting in Punjab.
The development comes days after Arvinder Singh Lovely resigned as Delhi Congress chief followed by former MLA Raj Kumar Chauhan quitting the party. This takes the number of Delhi Congress leaders leaving the party to four.
In his resignation letter, Mr. Singh wrote, “You have appointed Yadav [Devender] as the interim president in Delhi where he will be mandated to praise and support AAP and CM Arvind Kejriwal, but up until now, in Punjab, he has run a campaign solely based on attacking Kejriwal’s agenda.” Mr. Basoya, in his letter, said the tie-up “is bringing great embarrassment” to party workers.
