NEW DELHI: Former Delhi minister
Arvinder Singh Lovely
, who resigned from the post of state Congress chief last week over the party’s alliance with
AAP
, joined BJP for the second time on Saturday. With him, former Delhi minister
Raj Kumar Chauhan
, who had also left Congress in May 2019 but had returned within a few months, ex-MLAs
Naseeb Singh
and
Neeraj Basoya
, who also quit the grand old party a few days ago, and former Youth Congress president Amit Malik also joined the BJP at the saffron party’s headquarters in the Capital.
Speaking to TOI, Lovely alleged that the party had deviated from its ideology of making sacrifices and was now practising ‘tukde-tukde’ politics. Recalling former PM Indira Gandhi’s words that every drop of her blood was for the country, Lovely said the Congress deviated from its ideology of making sacrifices for the country. “I had resigned from the post of Delhi Congress president and wanted to continue to remain the party worker. I had a meeting with others who resigned and our other supporters and we decided there was no need to sit at home,” Lovely said.
“BJP has a strong leadership under PM Narendra Modi and they are working to strengthen the country. I am thankful to PM Modi, Amit Shah and JP Nadda for accommodating not just me but my other colleagues from the Congress too,” he added.
Lovely said he had worked hard for Congress after coming back from BJP but the functionaries of the grand old party were giving statements against him after his resignation. The former Gandhi Nagar MLA had earlier joined BJP in May 2017 after levelling the charges of bribery in the distribution of tickets for MCD polls but had returned to Congress in Feb 2018, saying he was a “misfit” in the saffron party.
In his resignation letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge last week, Lovely was critical of the alliance with AAP and also expressed his displeasure over the party giving tickets to Kanhaiya Kumar from northeast Delhi and Udit Raj from northwest Delhi, saying they were strangers to the party and its policies. He had, however, added that he will remain a Congress unless he was pushed to resign.
They were inducted into the party in the presence of Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva and party’s national general secretary Vinod Tawde. While Chauhan had cited his “humiliation” at the hands of AICC general secretary in charge Deepak Babaria for leaving Congress, Naseeb Singh and Neeraj Basoya had hit out at the Congress for forging an alliance with AAP in Delhi in their resignation letters.
Chauhan said BJP was doing well under the strong leadership of PM Modi. “We have not been offered any position. We will work hard in the party and create space for ourselves,” the former Mangolpuri MLA said. After their induction, Lovely, Chauhan and others went to meet BJP national president JP Nadda and had a long discussion with him. Delhi Congress’ interim chief Devender Yadav said Lovely was an “opportunist”. “I put Arvinder Singh Lovely in the category of an opportunist person. This is not the first time that he has tried to sabotage Congress. The party does not care much about such people. Congress was strong before and will remain strong in the future as well,” Yadav said. “This is their habit. Whenever there is a chance, he (Lovely) has tried to cheat and there is no place for cheaters in the party,” he added.
Lovely, however, said he was not getting anything from BJP. “I was Delhi state president in Congress. I am joining BJP at a time when nominations for elections have already been filed. I am not getting anything from them,” Lovely said. “We have been given an opportunity to fight for the people of Delhi under the banner of BJP. There is no doubt that the BJP govt is being formed in the country with an overwhelming majority,” he added.
