Ajay Maken fends off Arvinder Singh Lovely's criticism

NEW DELHI: “We will win east Delhi,” Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken said on Wednesday, a day after Arvinder Singh Lovely, a party heavyweight in the area, decided to join BJP. Lovely hit back, threatening to ensure a massive defeat for the Congress candidate at Rajouri Garden where Maken lives.
Maken’s Congress resurgence dream has now come under challenge from his once-close friend.In response to Maken’s claim that Lovely’s move won’t impact the municipal poll outcome, BJP’s new entrant said, “I challenge Ajay Maken that I will ensure that the Congress candidate at Rajouri Garden loses by the highest margin. I challenge Maken that if he is a grassroots leader, he can try his best to prevent his candidate from losing.”
The grapevine is abuzz that more Congressmen, dubbed as the ‘old guard’ feeling sidelined in Maken’s ‘new’ Congress, are exploring options outside the party. So far the Congress top brass — high command Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi — have not made any statement to stem the turbulence in Delhi Congress.
Responding to charges levelled by Lovely at a press conference on the Congress leadership earlier in the day, Maken told TOI, “I will only say one thing, we will win in east Delhi.” Lovely had been an MLA from east Delhi’s Gandhinagar and was known to have bolstered the party’s performance in East Delhi parliamentary constituency that was represented by former chief minister Sheila Dikshit’s son, Sandeep, for two terms.
Congress sources said Maken’s confidence stemmed from the fact that east Delhi still boasted of Congressmen who wielded much clout among voters. It is learnt that Maken is of the view that in the municipal polls, local factors would hold sway and Lovely’s move won’t impact the poll result. Senior leaders in the party admitted that if it were the assembly or parliamentary elections, the adverse impact would have been more acute.
For Congress, the wards under East Delhi Municipal Corporation will now be a critical battlefield. However, Lovely’s statements since joining BJP have made it clear that he won’t sit idle in this last leg of campaigning. With just two days left for campaigning, Lovely may be seen at BJP’s public meetings in different parts of the city. On Wednesday evening, there were already talks of organising a public meeting for Lovely in east Delhi.
Meanwhile, Maken claimed that the infighting and restlessness among a section of Congress members would in no way impact Congress’ poll campaign. “We are doing public meets and taking our message to the people. All workers and candidates are in the field,” he said.