Will quit politics instead of again leaving BJP, says Arvinder Singh Lovely

New Delhi: Arvinder Singh Lovely, who recently resigned from the Delhi Congress president's post, on Wednesday said he will rather quit politics instead of leaving BJP - the party that he has now joined.

Lovely, along with other senior Delhi Congress leaders including former minister Raj Kumar Chauhan, Naseeb Singh and Amit Malik, joined the BJP last week.

Previously, he had quit the Congress and joined the BJP along with Malik in April 2017. However, within a few months he switched back to the Congress in 2018.

Since then he was with the Congress, which he recently left over differences with the party leadership regarding choice of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi.

"Last time I had taken the decision to quit the Congress due to anger. This time, however, we have taken the decision with a cool head and much thought. Now, we will do politics here (in BJP) only or quit politics instead of leaving the party", Lovely told reporters at the Delhi BJP office.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva, who accompanied Lovely, said that he and other leaders will be free to decide their role in the party.

Lovely said that in any party, the role of a worker is most important and he will assume that role and campaign for the party where ever he was asked to go.

Lovely is one of the 40 star campaigners of the BJP for polls in Delhi.

He hinted that many other leaders in Delhi Congress may join the BJP in coming days.

"Raj Kumar Chauhan is a big leader in North West Delhi but his influence is not limited to that constituency only. Similarly, myself and Naseeb Singh are based in trans Yamuna area where there are two seats. This is just the beginning, if the party allows our other friends too will come", he said.

Chauhan, a former minister in the Sheila Dikshit government, had incidentally joined the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls after he was denied ticket from North West seat. In a deja vu moment for him, he was again denied ticket from the same seat after which he quit the Congress and joined the BJP along with Lovely and others.

Lovely claimed the Congress, which was earlier known for leaders like Indira Gandhi who talked of shedding their blood for the country, has now adopted those following the "tukde-tukde" ideology.

"Earlier when someone talked of patriotism, people used to say the person must be from the Congress. Now, when some one expresses love for the nation, people say he must be from the BJP", said the former Delhi Congress president.

He thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief J P Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the Delhi BJP for his entry into the saffron outfit, saying he earlier also had friendly relations with many leaders in the party.

Lovely asserted that after the joining of former Congress leaders like himself and Chauhan, there was no contest left in East Delhi and North East Delhi constituencies lying in trans Yamuna part of the city, hinting to the role they would play of spoiling the chances of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc candidates on the two seats.

The AAP and the Congress, constituents of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A.) bloc, have fielded their candidates on four and three seats respectively, to give a direct fight to the BJP.

Taking a dig at the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, Lovely said that recently the Delhi unit chief of the NCP, Yoganand Shastri, was weaned away by the Congress. The NCP is a constituent of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc.

"What kind of alliance is this?", he asked.

He claimed that the AAP campaigning in four seats in Delhi was not even using the name of the Congress and its leaders and was still expecting to get the votes of the party workers and supporters which was not going to happen this time.