Lovely hits out at Sheila, says she's a burden on Congress
Dikshit had termed the development as a betrayal by Mr Lovely.
New Delhi: A day after joining the BJP, former Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely on Wednesday hit out at his one-time mentor and former chief minister Sheila Dikshit, dubbing her as a burden on the Congress.
Mr Lovely along with Delhi Youth Congress president Amit Malik had joined the BJP in the presence of the party’s national president Amit Shah on Tuesday. Ms Dikshit had termed the development as a betrayal by Mr Lovely. On the other hand, Mr Malik said that denial of party tickets to 20 youth candidates by party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, was the reason why he joined the BJP.
Earlier in the day, Mr Lovely and Mr Malik visited the BJP state headquarters at Pt. Pant Marg. Mr Lovely said that he chose to be a traitor by joining the BJP, which fights for the cause of soldiers, instead of being a burden on the Congress like Ms Dikshit.
“Sheilaji is like my mother, but she is completely dissociated from the Congress campaign for civic polls or ignored while selecting candidates and has turned out to be a burden, while I chose to join the BJP that has been holding soldiers’ interests high,” said.
Mr Lovely also hit out at Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken, alleging that he loved comfort over hard work. “Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari spends nights in slums, whereas, Mr Maken campaigns in Lodhi Garden so that he could quickly go back home. He should give a thought to what he is doing. Over the years Congress has changed its character. Congress has stopped talking about the poor. Today only BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Na-rendra Modi and Mr Shah is working for all the section of society,” said the fo-rmer Delhi Congress chief.
Mr Malik, also a former president of Delhi University Student’s Union (DUSU), told this newspaper that for the last two and half years, the Youth Congress worked hard to revive the sinking ship of the party and faced police baton every other day but at the time of giving ticket these dedicated workers of party were ignored.
On March 28, before the announcement of Congress candidates for civic polls, workers of youth wing staged a protest outside Mr Gandhi’s residence. Mr Malik claimed that Mr Gandhi called them and assured proper representation of youth workers in ticket distribution. “He has assured us that our demand will be considered and placed before selection committee. Mr Gandhi told us that youth workers of party will given respectable representation. He betrayed not only Delhi Youth Congress workers but also youths of the city. Tickets were sold or given to favourites or relatives of sycophants,” added Mr Malik.
Ten Congress leaders including party vice president Sukhbeer Sharma joined the BJP today in presence of Mr Lovely, Delhi BJP in-charge Shyam Jaju and East Delhi Lok Sabha member Maheish Giri and other senior party leaders.