Lovely’s resignation exposes cracks in Congress-AAP alliance

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, April 28

The resignation of Delhi Congress president Arvinder Lovely has put the spotlight on the Congress-AAP coalition worked out by the two parties to contest the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi.

Lovely’s exit has come on the heels of the resignation of another senior leader, Rajkumar Chauhan, from the Congress. While the Congress and AAP failed to arrive at an electoral understanding in Punjab, the seat agreement reached by the two parties in Delhi was projected as the success story of the INDIA bloc, the Opposition alliance cobbled up to take on the BJP in the general elections.

Exit follows Chauhan’s departure

• Delhi Congress president Arvinder Lovely’s exit comes close on the heels of the resignation of another senior leader, Rajkumar Chauhan, from the Congress
• While the Congress and AAP failed to arrive at an electoral understanding in Punjab, the seat agreement reached by the two parties in Delhi was projected as the success story of the INDIA bloc, the Oppon alliance cobbled up to take on the BJP in the LS polls

But the two back-to-back resignations by two senior leaders of Congress have given an opportunity to the two parties’ political opponents to claim that the alliance is doing the parties more harm than good. The political adversaries claim that more resignations by Delhi Congress leaders will follow.

In his resignation letter, Lovely has cited the alliance with the AAP as the primary reason for his quitting the Congress.

Lovely, sources said, wanted to contest from the north-east Delhi seat. Congress, however, gave the ticket for the seat to former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar.

Chauhan, a four-time MLA from Mangolpuri who served in the Delhi Cabinet under Sheila Dikshit three times, left Congress after the ticket for the Delhi North West constituency seat was given to Udit Raj.

Chauhan’s resignation on April 25 came two days after a group of Congress workers staged a protest at the Delhi Congress office against Udit Raj’s candidature, calling him a “turncoat” and an “outsider” when Raj and the two other candidates were addressing the media.

Udit Raj alleged that the protest was mobilised by Chauhan. He previously quit the Congress in 2019 when the party did not give him a ticket to contest the Lok Sabha polls, but rejoined the party for the 2020 Delhi assembly polls.

Congress has already accepted the resignation letter given by Lovely. Lovely had earlier also resigned from the Congress, joined the BJP, and then again returned to the Congress.

The Congress is contesting three of the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi in alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is contesting four seats. Congress has fielded youth leader Kanhaiya Kumar from the north east, former MP JP Agrawal from Chandni Chowk, and former MP Udit Raj from north west.