In an apparent move to energise youth, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday appointed Arvinder Singh lovely as Chief Delhi Congress Committee. Fifth term MlA from Gandhi Nagar seat has replaced Jai Prakash Aggarwal whose tenure has been mired in controversies. Aggarwal had resigned soon after Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had blamed the State unit of the party for not extending the required support to her in the election campaign.
lovely, a successful Minister who held several portfolios is expected to effect major structural changes in the organisation and revamp the organisation to take on the principal Opposition BJP and new entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the General Elections that are not far away.
The appointment of lovely will help to revamp the organisation and to connect more and more people to the party, party insiders say.
Tasked to rejuvenate Congress after its worst ever drubbing in Assembly polls, lovely told on Thursday The Pioneer that to bring all factions together and strengthen the party at the grassroot level by connecting with the aam aadmi particularly youth and women.
lovely said that he was “happy” to take the responsibility and would make every effort to work unitedly with the sole aim of making the party “stronger” ahead of the lok Sabha polls expected to be held by May.
Expressing his gratitude to Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi and Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, the five-time MlA from Gandhi Nagar said his priority would be to connect with the common man by educating them with “pioneering initiatives” of the UPA Government in various spheres.
Heaping lavish praise on Dikshit and Aggarwal, lovely said that both of them have contributed to the party and I will learn from them as well.
lovely also exuded confidence that Congress will bounce back in the coming lok Sabha elections and there will be a marked improvement in its performance. He did accept that the party has failed to connect with the people on its policies and achievements in the recent elections.
“The appointment of lovely as new Delhi Congress president will help in energising the youth and connect them with the party. It was seen that youth have voted to AAP in the assembly polls. This will be a challenge for him,” said former Delhi Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan.