Arvinder Singh Lovely back in Congress fold ahead of bypoll

New Delhi: In a major boost to the Congress, former city minister Arvinder Singh Lovely, who had joined BJP after quitting the party ahead of the crucial municipal elections in April 2017, rejoined his parent party on Saturday.

Mr Lovely had quit the outfit on his own after he had differences with former Union minister Ajay Maken, who had replaced him as the party head before the Assembly elections in 2015.

Mr Lovely officially rejoined the party after he, along with Mr Maken and former city minister Haroon Yusuf, met Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

At a press conference in the AICC headquarters, Mr Lovely said he was ideologically misfit in BJP and had realised this the very next day after he joi-ned the saffron party. He said that he had taken the decision to quit Congress and join BJP with a “lot of pain.”

Unperturbed over Mr Lovely rejoining Congress, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari told this newspaper that it was the former city minister’s decision to join BJP.

“It is his decision to rejo-in Congress. I welcome his decision,” he said.

Reports suggest that former Delhi Youth Congress president Amit Malik, who too had quit the party with Mr Lovely to join BJP, is going to rejoin the party in the coming week.  Journalist-turned-politician Pratyush Kanth, who had quit Congress to join BJP with Mr Lovely, is however unlikely to rejoin the party.

As far as Mr Lovely is concerned, he is a prominent Sikh and Punjabi face in the national capital and is expected to bolster Congress’ prospects in the 20 Assembly seats, which are going to the by-polls. The by-elections in these seats was necessitated after the EC recommended disqualification of 20 AAP MLAs for holding office of profit while serving as parliamentary secretaries between March 13, 2015, and September 8, 2016.

When he quit, Mr Lovely had called former chief minister Sheila Dikshit a “burden on the Congress.” He had also made comments on Mr Maken and said that he was “lazy and soaked in comfort.” The four-time MLA was miffed when his suggestions were not incorporated while distributing tickets for the MCD polls. However, joining the BJP also brought disappointment for Mr Lovely as he was overshadowed by BJP leaders like Vijay Goel and Manoj Tiwari.

Mr Maken said that Mr Lovely had left the party as there was some communication gap between the two.

“Now there is no communication gap. We will fight unitedly in Delhi,” he said.

Before Mr Lovely, Mr Maken had reached out to Ms Dikshit, who too had differences with him.