Former Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh lovely, who had left the party last year to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was re-inducted into the Congress on Saturday.
lovely’s return comes in the wake of efforts to unite the party in the national Capital where by-elections are due following the disqualification of 20 AAP MlAs for holding office of profit.
The announcement was made by AICC-in-charge of Delhi unit PC Chacko, along with Maken, where lovely said he never felt good quitting the party. “I was ideologically misfit in the BJP. I realised this from the next day I joined the party,” he said.
lovely also said that he took the decision to quit the Congress and join the BJP with a “lot of pain”.
The announcement came days after former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Ajay Maken shared stage while highlighting failures of the Delhi Government on its third anniversary.
lovely, who was a former minister in the Sheila Dikshit-led Government, met party chief Rahul Gandhi at his residence along with Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken earlier.
He elected to the Assembly from Gandhi Nagar seat for the first time in 1998. He also became a cabinet minister in Sheila Diskhit-led Congress government in 2003, and held important portfolios such as education and tourism.
Gandhi welcomed him into the party fold. lovely, who was a Sheila Dikshit loyalist, quit the Congress following differences with Maken.
He had quit the Congress and joined the BJP in the presence of party president Amt Shah, ahead of the Delhi civic polls in April last year.
lovely, a prominent Sikh and Punjabi face in the national capital, would help bolster the Congress' prospects. The party does not have any MlA in the Delhi assembly currently.
Dikshit also welcomed the return of Arvinder Singh lovely to the Congress, saying it is good for the party.
“I am glad. He has been a Congressman and worked as Delhi Congress president as well as minister in party government, for a long time. Naturally his coming back is good for the party,” the senior Congress leader said.