Arvinder Singh Lovely joined the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) on May 4, about a week after resigning from the post of Delhi Congress chief.
After his April 28 resignation, Lovely claimed he would not join any political party and had simply resigned from the post, and not from the party.
With his induction in the BJP on Saturday, however, Lovely has joined the long list of Congress turncoats who have switched to the saffron party during the ongoing Lok Sabha Elections 2024.
Resigned twice as Delhi Cong Chief
This is not the first time that Lovely, 55, has defected from the Congress for the BJP. In fact, it is the second time in less than ten years when he has quit as Delhi Congress chief and joined the BJP.
In February 2015, Lovely resigned from the post of Delhi Congress chief after the grand old party’s worst-ever performance in the Delhi Assembly elections. The Congress, which had ruled the national capital for 15 years under Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit, failed to win even one seat in the 70-member Delhi Assembly.
Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had swept the elections winning 67 seats. The remaining three seats were bagged by the BJP. Lovely, four-time former Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) tendered his resignation to the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi after taking moral responsibility for the election debacle.
Two years later, on May 11, 2017, Lovely joined the BJP, a week ahead of Delhi municipal elections. He had levelled bribery allegations against the Congress party during the distribution of tickets ahead of municipal polls. The BJP won the Delhi municipal polls in 2017.
‘Ideological Misfit in BJP’
However, nine months later, on February 17, 2018, Lovely was re-inducted into the Congress soon after a meeting with the then party president Rahul Gandhi.
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“Quitting Congress was not a happy decision…I was an ideological misfit in BJP. It didn’t take long to realise that. Then I told myself, I should do as much as I can for my parent party.” Lovely had told reporters in Delhi soon after joining the Congress party. Lovely was made the Delhi Congress president again in August 2023.
Four-term ex- MLA
Lovely was a key minister in late Sheila Dikshit-led Delhi government. He has won Delhi Assembly Elections four times since 1998 and has held important portfolios such as education, tourism, urban development and transport as a minister in Congress government.
Lovely unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections on a Congress ticket from East Delhi seat. He lost. BJP candidate Gautam Gambhir won.
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Published: 04 May 2024, 07:48 PM IST