Former Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely joins BJP

Former Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely joined BJP on Friday — mere days after resigning from the Opposition party. The senior politician had previously insisted that he would not be “joining any political party" and had simply resigned from his post. Speculative reports quoting AAP and Congress leaders had meanwhile claimed that the BJP would filed Lovely from the East Delhi constituency.

“We have been given an opportunity to fight for the people of Delhi under the banner of BJP and under the leadership of Prime Minister... I have full hope and there is no doubt about it that the BJP government is being formed in the country with an overwhelming majority. In the coming days, the flag of the BJP will fly in Delhi too..." Lovely said after his induction. 

He was joined by other members of the Congress — including former city government minister Raj Kumar Chauhan and former MLAs Neeraj Basoya and Naseeb Singh. Lovely said that he had met his colleagues and thousands of Congress workers after resigning as state chief. 

“All those people said that you should not sit at home and should continue fighting for the people of Delhi and the country," he added.

He had previously contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election from East Delhi constituency against BJP leader Gautam Gambhir and AAP candidate Atishi. The former cricketer won the seat by 3.93 lakh votes as Lovely trailed with 24% of the votes. Delhi will cast its ballot for seven Lok Sabha seats during the sixth phase on May 25.

(With inputs from agencies)