The Congress on Tuesday suffered a major setback in Delhi with former chief of the state unit Arvinder Singh Lovely joining the BJP.
Along with Lovely, a senior minister in the previous Sheila Dikshit-run Congress government, Amit Malik, president of Delhi youth Congress wing, also quit the party.
The defections on the eve of April 23 Delhi Municipal Corporation elections, are being seen as devastating for the Congress which was hoping to gain from the recent losses of Aam Aadmi Party whose candidate had lost his deposit in the Rajouri Garden bypoll.
The BJP won the seat and the Congress came second.
Since much of the AAP political stock resulted from the erosion of Congress’ voter base, the Congress was expecting to put up a strong fight in the upcoming MCD elections. That dream would be somewhat shattered today with the exit of Lovely and Amit Malik.
Arvinder Singh Lovely was a strong Sheila Dikshit loyalist who handled several key portfolios when Dikshit was Delhi CM for 15 years.
After Dikshit's loss to AAP's Kejriwal in Delhi, Lovely was brought into Delhi organisation as state unit chief.
The party, however, could not recover and Lovely was removed and replaced with senior Congress leader Ajay Maken.
There are reports of the BJP being in touch with many other Delhi Congress stalwarts. It remains to be seen whether more will quit Congress in the coming days.
