NEW DELHI: Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Arvinder Singh Lovely on Wednesday said the party would revive itself with structural changes very soon and that leaders who moved to other parties might return as well.
“We will put in every possible effort to revive the party in the national capital and boost the spirit of every Congress leader and worker in the city. Wait and watch how many leaders who defected earlier return to the Congress,” Lovely said
Lovely, a former minister, was appointed as the head of the party’s unit in the national capital recently.
Some of the Congress leaders who jumped ship in the past are Mahabal Mishra, Prahlad Singh Sawhney, Shoaib Iqbal, Dhanwati Chandela, Rajkumari Dhillon and Surender Pal Singh Bittu.
While Mahabal Mishra joined the AAP before the Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections in 2022, Sawhney, a four-time Congress MLA from the Chandni Chowk assembly constituency between 1998 and 2015, joined the AAP in 2019.
Shoaib Iqbal, a five-time Congress MLA from the Matial Mahal assembly constituency, joined the AAP in January 2020. Chandela and Dhillon joined the AAP before the assembly elections in 2020. Two-time former Congress MLA from the Timarpur constituency Surender Pal Singh Bittu joined the BJP in July 2019.
Speaking about the Congress coordinators who were appointed to restructure the party in Delhi, Lovely said that the next course of action will be decided after they receive a report from them in the next two weeks. “First, we need to reorganise the party and shuffle certain responsibilities among some leaders and workers. Once that is done, the party will start its activities. Even now, the party is silent because our entire focus is on changing the structure. I am hopeful that the Delhi Congress will revive itself very soon,” Lovely said.
The Congress on Monday appointed coordinators for all seven Lok Sabha constituencies in Delhi who will help restructure the party in the national capital and submit their reports in the next 15 days. Each coordinator will have three leaders to help them list names for block and district presidents and under the block Congress committees, there will be two mandals too, the DPCC president said earlier.
In the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won all seven seats in Delhi. The Congress also drew a blank in the 2015 and 2020 Assembly polls, which were swept by the AAP. Lovely has asked the coordinators to submit a report over poll management in 15 days.