After stint with BJP, Arvinder Singh Lovely rejoins Congress party, says he was 'misfit in BJP'

Former Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely on Saturday rejoined the party months after he quit to join the BJP.

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 was welcomed back into the party by AICC in-charge of Delhi unit PC Chacko along with Maken.

“The BJP was an ideologically misfit party for me. I am glad to be back in Congress,” Lovely said.

According to reports, Lovely was upset over ticket distribution due to which he had left Congress and joined the BJP.

Earlier, speaking to DNA, he had said that his decision to quit the party and join the BJP was an act aimed at maintaining self-respect. “Those who have an inch of self-respect left will not stay with the party (Congress) any longer. Those who are still with the party are compromising on their self-respect. I was feeling suffocated by staying in the party and that’s why I left.”

Lovely was elected to the Delhi assembly from Gandhi Nagar seat in 1998 for the first time. He was the youngest MLA. He had not lost a single poll. 

An influential leader, especially among the Punjabi community in the national capital, he was one of the important ministers in Sheila Dikshit's Cabinet during the Congress rule in Delhi.

He had held important portfolios such as education, tourism, urban development and transport.