Why Arvinder Singh Lovely resigned and what it means for Delhi Congress, INDIA bloc

Arvinder Singh Lovely

Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely’s resignation couldn’t have come at a more inopportune moment for his party as well as the opposition INDIA bloc.

Just when it looked like the opposition alliance was getting its act together in the national capital to break the BJP’s stranglehold, Lovely’s resignation letter on April 28 laid bare the simmering discontent in the Congress’ state unit.

The letter has the potential to impact the performance of the alliance, which has brought bitter rivals AAP and the Congress together in Delhi, which has seven Lok Sabha constituencies, all of them with the BJP. Delhi votes on May 25

As alliance partners, Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party is contesting four seats: East, New Delhi, South, and West, while Congress has been given North East, North West and Chandni Chowk as part of the alliance arrangement.

Here is what is at stake in Delhi and what Lovely’s exit means for poll play: 

Why did bitter foes Congress and AAP come together? 

On their own, AAP and the Congress are no match for the BJP, which won all seven seats in 2014 and 2019. Even though the AAP won the assembly elections in 2015 and 2020 with record votes, it has failed to win even a single Lok Sabha seat in the city-state.

In 2019, the BJP not only won all seven seats but also had a vote share of 56 percent. The Congress and AAP, which both drew a blank, got 23 percent of the votes polled and AAP at 18 percent.

In 2014, the BJP had a vote share of 46.4 percent, AAP 32.9 percent and the Congress 15.1 percent.

No ghar wapsi 

Speaking to NDTV, Lovely refuted claims he was acting at the behest of the BJP and was planning to go back to the party, where he spent a year after he quit the Congress in 2017.

This time, Lovely as quit as the state unit chief but not the party.

Asserting he did not leak his resignation letter to the media, Lovely said he stepped down because he was not up to the task of sacking people.

His biggest grouse, however, was the Congress tie-up with Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP, which has grown at the cost of the Congress. The alliance would eat into the Congress’ base, he hinted.

Lovely unhappy with LS picks 

Lovely in his resignation letter expressed displeasure over the choice of Kanhaiya Kumar as the party’s North East candidate and Udit Raj from North West Delhi.

Labelled “outsider”, Kumar, a former JNU student leader, unsuccessfully contested the 2019 election from Begusarai in Bihar on CPI (M) ticket and lost to the BJP's Giriraj Singh by more than four lakh votes. Local leaders and workers are unhappy over Kumar being “foisted” on them.

Raj, a former BJP leader, faces a similar problem.

Unhappy with AAP tie-up

In his letter to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Lovely said several AAP ministers were in jail over corruption charges but the Congress overlooked opposition by workers and went ahead with the alliance.

Since he couldn’t protect the interests of the Delhi Congress workers, there was no reason for him to continue as the unit chief, he signed off.