Congress leader Arvinder Singh Lovely, who stepped down as the party’s Delhi unit chief on Sunday, said he is not joining any other political party.
"I have only resigned as Delhi Congress chief and I am not joining any political party," Lovely said at a press conference amid speculation that he might join the BJP.
The rumours of his crossover to the saffron party flew thick and fast after Congress ex-MLA Asif Mohammad Khan claimed that the BJP would field Lovely from the East Delhi constituency, replacing Harsh Malhotra.
Earlier in the day, Lovely announced his resignation, citing the party high command’s decision to ally with the Aam Aadmi Party for the Lok Sabha elections.
Lovely said his resignation reflected the pain of Congress workers saddened by the fact that the "ideals they had been fighting for during the last seven to eight years" were being compromised.
"We are fighting the elections together but never did the Congress workers say that we are giving a clean chit to them or giving them credit for building schools and hospitals, which is far from the reality," he said.
In his resignation letter sent to party president Mallikarjun Kharge, Lovely also said that he found himself "handicapped" as all unanimous decisions taken by senior Delhi unit leaders have been "unilaterally vetoed" by AICC Delhi in-charge Deepak Babria.
"It is with a heavy heart that I write the present letter to you finding myself handicapped and unable to continue as the President of the Delhi party unit,” he said in his letter to Kharge.
Lovely also criticised Congress North East Delhi candidate Kanhaiya Kumar for heaping praise on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is in jail after being arrested in connection with a money laundering case linked to the excise policy scam.
Lovely had been appointed the Delhi Congress chief in August last year.
