Arvinder Singh Lovely resigned as the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) chief on Sunday. This development comes at a time when Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are trying to showcase their unity ahead of the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.
Delhi will go to polls in the sixth phase on May 25 for its seven Lok Sabha constituencies.
HT launches Crick-it, a one stop destination to catch Cricket, anytime, anywhere. Explore now!
For the past ten years, all seven MPs of Delhi belonged to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). According to people aware of the developments in Congress, the Punjab unit of the party had been vocal against an alliance with AAP while the Delhi unit hardly voiced similar sentiments.
Arvinder Singh Lovely resigns, anger against Cong in-charge
The resignation of Congress’ Delhi unit chief Lovely in protest against the alliance with AAP brought the party’s factional feud into the open, with a section of leaders on Sunday demanding the removal of AICC in-charge Deepak Babaria.
While AAP termed it as an internal matter of the Congress, BJP said Lovely has listened to the voice of his conscience as no patriot can stand with those who talk about dividing the country and claimed there would be further repercussions for Congress.
In his resignation letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Lovely said the Delhi Congress unit was against the alliance with AAP and that all unanimous decisions taken by the senior Delhi unit leaders have been “unilaterally vetoed” by Babaria.
Why Lovely resigned
In his letter to Kharge, Lovely said several AAP ministers have been jailed over corruption charges, yet the Congress forged an alliance with the party for the Lok Sabha polls amid opposition by party workers.
Lovely added that since he cannot protect the interests of the Delhi Congress workers, he sees no reason to continue as the chief of the Delhi party unit.
Meanwhile, party insiders pointed out that the leadership was keen to field Lovely from the North East Delhi seat for the Lok Sabha polls but he refused.
Poll body rejects AAP’s campaign song
Meanwhile, the pre-certification committee in the office of the Delhi chief electoral officer (CEO) has rejected a campaign advertisement application of a song released by AAP for “casting aspersions on the judiciary”, “inciting violence”, presenting police “in bad taste”, and criticising the ruling party on “the basis of unverified facts”.
The AAP song, launched on April 25, raises allegations of dictatorial governance, unemployment, inflation, and conspiracy targeting opposition leaders.
It is not clear why the pre-certification committee sent the letter two days after the song was released.
HT contacted AAP for more details on when the song was submitted to the Delhi CEO for approval.
JDU losing ground, BJP has lost identity: Tejashwi
Former deputy chief minister of Bihar Tewashwi Yadav, who is now the face of the RJD, has maintained that, “All said and done, Mr Nitish Kumar was a junior partner in our joint government. The alliance agreed to give him the chief ministerial post because of various factors, and the decision, as you may understand, did not rest on the number of JD(U) seats. In fact, the JD(U) seems to be losing ground. BJP partners have lost their identity and power historically. You may look at any regional party that has tied up with the BJP for proof.”
In an interview with Sunetra Choudhury, Yadav also claimed that the BJP has lost its identity.
“The people don’t expect a PM to go so low and talk about all these. The people expect a PM to speak about what he has done in 10 years, what’s his new vision, and what he will do in future. They haven’t told us anything. We were expecting that he would talk about Hindu temples and mosques. The majority are suffering. The real issues are high inflation, poverty and unemployment, and the people are supporting this issue-centric narrative,” he said.
Sex scandal hits JDS ahead of phase 2 polls in Karnataka
A first information report (FIR) alleging sexual harassment was lodged on Sunday against Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna and his father HD Revanna, an MLA representing Holenarasipur, based on a complaint by a woman who had worked at Revanna’s house. She alleged she was sexually abused multiple times between 2019 and 2022. Revanna is also the grandson of former PM and tallest JDS leader HD Deve Gowda.
Based on the complaint, police have registered a case under pertinent sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 354A (sexual harassment), 354D (stalking), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (outraging modesty of a woman). The FIR has been transferred to the SIT formed to probe the allegations against Prajwal Revanna.
“The government has decided to set up a special investigation team (SIT) to look into the case involving an obscene video of Prajwal Revanna,” chief minister Siddaramaiah announced on Saturday.
