BJP rewards former Congress ministers Lovely, Chauhan with key govt appointments

BJP MLAs Arvinder Singh Lovely and Raj Kumar Chauhan, who had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party from Congress ahead of the 2024 General Assembly elections, have been appointed chairpersons of two key development boards under the Delhi Government.

Lovely, the MLA from Gandhi Nagar, has been appointed Chairman of the Trans-Yamuna Area Development Board, while Mangolpuri legislator Chauhan has been named Chairman of the Village Development Board.

According to government sources, a gazette notification formalising the appointments is expected shortly. Nominations for other board members are also likely to be announced soon.

Significantly, this marks the second time both leaders have switched to the BJP. Lovely, who was then serving as the Delhi Congress president, cited the party’s alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as the reason for his exit. Chauhan, meanwhile, left the Congress after being denied a Lok Sabha ticket.

Both leaders were Cabinet ministers under former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. Lovely was inducted into the Cabinet in 2003 and held key portfolios including education, transport and revenue. Chauhan became a minister in 2001.

The Trans-Yamuna Area Development Board was established in March 1994 to promote the planned growth of the Trans-Yamuna region and to address developmental imbalances between it and other parts of the city.

The Village Development Board, formerly known as the Delhi Rural Development Board, is responsible for infrastructure and development projects in the capital’s rural areas.