Arvinder Singh Lovely, who quit Congress to join BJP, rejoins party
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New Delhi: Former Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely Saturday rejoined the party months after he quit to join the BJP, where he said he was an "ideological misfit".
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. Gandhi welcomed him into the party fold.
The announcement was made by AICC incharge 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 told reporters.
He also said that he took the decision to quit the Congress and join the BJP with a "lot of pain".
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's return comes in the wake of efforts to unite the party in Delhi where bye-elections are due following the disqualification of 20 AAP MLAs.
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 him into the party fold.