Devendra Yadav appointed president of Delhi Congress after Lovely's exit
Devendra Yadav, the current Punjab Congress in-charge and former MLA, was on Tuesday appointed as the interim head of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee. The leadership change comes following Arvinder Singh Lovely's resignation from his position as leader of the Delhi Congress due to disagreements over party alliances for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in Delhi.
Why does this story matter?
Last week, Lovely resigned, blaming the Congress's alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi for the Lok Sabha elections. Shortly after this stunning development, reports surfaced that Lovely would join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Former Congress MLA Asif Muhammad Khan even claimed that the BJP would field Lovely from the East Delhi constituency, replacing Harsh Malhotra. To recall, Lovely left the Congress in 2017 to join the BJP but returned within a few months.
'Not joining another party': Lovely
On Sunday, Lovely clarified that he does not intend to join another political party. He stated that his resignation mirrored the anguish felt by Congress workers, who were dismayed that the "ideals they had been fighting for during the last seven to eight years" were being compromised. "This pain is not just mine. It belongs to all leaders of the Congress," he said.
Lovely brings up Kanhaiya Kumar's nomination
In his resignation letter to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Lovely also criticized the choice of candidates for the upcoming Delhi Lok Sabha elections. He specifically mentioned North East Delhi candidate Kanhaiya Kumar, who praised Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, currently in jail in a money laundering case. Lovely stated that such "ill-thought and factually incorrect statements have not gone down well" with the Delhi Congress unit.
Delhi Congress unit against alliance with AAP: Lovely
"Delhi Congress unit was against an alliance with a party which was formed on the sole basis of levelling false, fabricated and mala fide corruption charges against the Congress...Half of the cabinet ministers (of the party) are presently in jail on corruption charges," he wrote in his resignation letter. "Despite that, the party (Congress) made a decision to ally with AAP in Delhi," he added. Under the alliance, the AAP will contest four seats, while the Congress will contest three.
