Arvinder Lovely denies joining any party after quitting Congress post

Arvinder Singh Lovely, who resigned as the Delhi Congress chief today, stated that he will not be joining any other party and will continue to remain within the Congress, engaging with party workers. Lovely said that his decision was to "uphold the principals" and not due to any dispute over Lok Sabha ticket distribution.

Lovely resigned earlier today, primarily citing interference in his leadership by Congress General Secretary Deepak Babaria, just days ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in the national capital.

"I conveyed the pain of my heart and the pain of Congress workers to the high command. I am not joining any other party; my fight is for these principles," Lovely said, adding that it was just "a misconception that I resigned because I was unhappy with the ticket".

"I want to clarify that I have not resigned over discontent over tickets [for Lok Sabha polls]. We [Congress and AAP] are contesting the polls together," he said, but further added that "the Congress and its workers never gave a clean chit (to AAP) or gave them credit for building schools and hospitals."

The Congress leader affirmed, "I have resigned from the post of President of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee. I have not resigned from Congress. I will continue to meet with party workers. My resignation is not for myself but for the Congress workers."

However, he noted that candidates for the Lok Sabha polls should have been selected by consulting the leadership in Delhi rather than the AICC.

In his resignation to the party chief, Lovely alleged that AICC General Secretary Babaria was interfering in his leadership and all unanimous decisions taken by the senior Delhi unit leaders had been "unilaterally vetoed" by him. Lovely also alleged that Babaria was consistently pressured to expel leaders who were against Babaria's leadership.

Also, Lovely, criticised party's North East Delhi candidate Kanhaiya Kumar for praising Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

However, Babaria responded that Lovely was "raising questions due to some pressure", without elaborating further.

Delhi will be voting on May 25 to elect all seven MPs from the national capital.