Days after resigning from the post of the Delhi Congress president in protest against the party’s alliance with INDIA bloc partner AAP and over selection of party candidates, Arvinder Singh Lovely joined BJP on Saturday. Lovely joined BJP in the presence of Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva and the BJP’s national general secretary Vinod Tawde.

He, along with 4 former Congress leaders, joined the BJP in the presence of Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri. The 4 others who joined the party include former Congress MLAs who had recently left the party — Neeraj Basoya, Rajkumar Chauhan, Delhi youth Congress chief Amit Malik and Naseeb Singh.

Speaking to the media after joining the BJP, Arvinder Singh Lovely said, they have been given an opportunity to fight for the people of Delhi under the banner of BJP and under the leadership of the Prime Minister. He had full hope, and there is no doubt about it, that the BJP government is being formed in the country with an overwhelming majority. Lovely added that in the coming days, the flag of the BJP will fly in Delhi too.

Lovely’s resignation on April 28 was a setback to Delhi Congress in terms of optics and perception. Coming 4 days after former Delhi minister Rajkumar Chauhan quit the party, the resignation of Lovely, who has been heading the Delhi unit since August last year, has been a blow to the Congress’s preparations for the May 25 elections in Delhi.

After the announcement of the resignation, AAP minister Saurabh Bharadwaj took to his X handle to allude to the links between Lovely and BJP. It is the 2nd time that Arvinder Singh Lovely has stepped down as the Delhi Congress president. Lovely’s resignation came a day after more than a 1000 members of the Sikh community, including office-bearers of the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee, joined the BJP in the presence of its national president J P Nadda.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for calling her brother and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi a shehzaada. She was speaking at an election rally in Gujarat on Saturday where she called PM Modi a shehanshah.

She said BJP calls her brother Shehzada. She wanted to tell BJP how this shehzada walked 4,000 km from Kanyakumari to Kashmir to listen to people’s problems. The Congress leader added that Rahul Gandhi met  sisters, brothers, farmers and labourers and asked them what problems they were having. Priyanka Gandhi was speaking at a rally in Banaskantha in Gujarat.

Priyanka Gandhi said on the other side is the shehanshah, Narendra Modi, who lives in a palace. She asked the people if they have watched him on television?  She said not a single speck of dust is visible on his face. She asked how can PM Modi understand their problems?

Priyanka Gandhi attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he repeatedly called Rahul Gandhi a shehzada of shahi parivar. He was addressing a rally in Gujarat on Thursday where PM Modi had targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and said Pakistan is eager to make the shehzada of the grand old party India’s next Prime Minister as the country’s enemies want a weak government at the centre.

Priyanka Gandhi further attacked PM Modi and said Gujarat gave PM Modi respect and self-respect and gave him power, but he is seen only with big people. She asked if anyone had seen PM Modi meeting a farmer?

 She further pointed out that farmers are protesting against the black laws. She said hundreds of farmers are martyred, but the Prime Minister does not even bother to go and meet them. She said just before the elections come and they feel that they will not get votes, then PM Modi changes the law.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday wrote to Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah regarding JD(S) leader Prajwal Revanna sex scandal. In his letter, Gandhi condemned the actions of Revanna and requested the Karnataka Chief Minister to extend all possible support to the sexually harassed women.

Gandhi requested Siddaramaiah to kindly extend all possible support to the victims. He wrote that everyone has a collective duty to ensure that all parties responsible for these heinous crimes are brought to book. The Wayanad MP further added that many who looked up to him as a brother and son have been brutalised in the most violent manner and they have been robbed of their dignity. He said the rape of our mothers and sisters warrants the strictest possible punishment.

Rahul Gandhi was shocked to know that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been campaigning for the Hassan MP inspite of the fact the gruesome allegations had been brought to the notice of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in December 2023.

The Congress leader mentioned in his letter that he is deeply shocked to learn that as far back as December 2023, India’s Home Minister Amit Shah had been informed by G Devaraje Gowda about Prajwal Revanna’s antecedants and his history of sexual violence and the presence of sex videos filmed by him.

Gandhi wrote in his letter to Siddaramaiah that what is even more shocking is that despite these gruesome allegations being brought to the notice of the senior-most BJP leadership, the Prime Minister campaigned and canvassed for a mass rapist.

 The Wayanad MP took a veiled attack on PM Modi and said he has never come across a senior public representative who has constantly chosen silence in the face of untold violence against women. Gandhi further pointed out that from the female wrestlers in Haryana to sisters in Manipur, Indian women are bearing the brunt of the Prime Minister’s tacit support for such criminals.