Arvinder Singh Lovely, a former president of the Delhi Congress, left the party and joined the BJP, five days before Delhi’s municipal elections. He was received into the BJP by party president Amit Shah and Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari.

Lovely’s attack on the Congress

Lovely, 48, had been with the Congress since his student-leader days. After the switch he said: “The child has died. The party is finished.” His remarks were seen as aimed at Ajay Maken, the current head of the Delhi Congress, and he argued that the party had collapsed under its present leadership.

Sheila Dikshit’s response

Lovely had been a senior minister in the Congress government headed by Sheila Dikshit, which governed Delhi for 15 years. Dikshit accused him of betraying the party. She said the Congress had given him respect, making him both a minister and the head of its state unit, and that leaving now that the party was going through a difficult period was wrong. “I think this is treachery,” the former chief minister said.

Timing

The move came days before a crucial vote for the three municipal corporations of Delhi, timing that was seen as damaging for the Congress.

See also: political leaders

Originally published on 20 April 2017. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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