Lovely returns to Cong, says was a ‘misfit’ in BJP

Former Delhi Congress chief, Arvinder Singh Lovely, was reinducted into Congress on Saturday almost nine months after he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP).

The official announcement of Singh’s reinduction was made after he called on Congress president Rahul Gandhi along with Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken on Saturday noon.

“Congress president Rahul Gandhi welcomes Arvinder Singh Lovely back into the Congress family,” a tweet from the party’s official handle said sharing Lovely’s picture with Gandhi. He was welcomed back into the party by AICC incharge of Delhi unit PC Chacko along with Maken.

Interacting with the press on Saturday, Singh said, “Quitting Congress was not a happy decision... I was a misfit in BJP.”

The move is seen as a boost for the Congress party ahead of the likely bypolls to 20 assembly seats after AAP MLAs were disqualified for holding office of profit. More so, as it comes days after former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit and current Delhi unit chief Ajay Maken shunned past differences and shared stage while highlighting “failures” of Arvind Kejriwal government on its third anniversary.

Singh, a key minister in the Sheila Dikshit government had joined BJP in April 2017 along with Delhi youth Congress chief Amit Malik ahead of MCD polls in the national capital. Reports said Malik would also rejoin Congress, but there was no official confirmation yet.

At the time of joining BJP, Singh had levelled bribery allegations in distribution of tickets ahead of MCD polls.

Singh held important portfolios such as education, tourism, urban development and transport as a minister. Elected to the Assembly from Gandhi Nagar seat for the first time in 1998, he had not lost a single election. He was removed as Delhi Congress chief in 2015 and did not contest the state elections when the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won a brute majority.

At the time of leaving Congress, Singh had said he had failed to get appointments with then party president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi to apprise them about the state of affairs in the organisation. “I had given 31 years to the party but what did I get in the end? Nothing. I was not even included in the core committee set up for the municipal elections,” Singh had said last year.

NEW DELHI:

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With agency inputs)