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Hours after Arvinder Singh Lovely resigned from the post of Delhi Congress president Sunday, his nameplate was removed and the office allotted to him at the party’s state headquarters locked even as the senior leadership began deliberations on the next step forward, sources said.
Party sources said the Congress senior leadership was understood to be mulling various possibilities, ranging from appointing an interim in-charge for a few months to the formation of a committee that could oversee the party’s Lok Sabha election campaign in the Capital. The announcement in this regard, sources added, was “expected very soon.”
“In addition to the possibility of choosing Lovely’s successor, the party could appoint an interim president till the Lok Sabha polls conclude, a working president till a full-time president is appointed between the Lok Sabha and next year’s Delhi Assembly elections, or put in place a committee to oversee the party’s affairs for the elections,” a senior Delhi Congress leader said.
“This committee, which too would be an interim arrangement, could include four to seven senior leaders from prominent castes and communities who have not been adequately represented as far as the Congress’s picks for the three Lok Sabha seats in Delhi are concerned,” the leader added.
In the meantime, according to party sources, several names were being assessed as far as choosing any successor was concerned. These, party insiders said, included Dr Narendra Nath, Subhash Chopra, Abhishek Dutt and Devender Yadav among others.
According to party sources, the All India Congress Committee in-charge for Delhi and Haryana, Deepak Babaria, was understood to have made suggestions with regard to probable replacements for Lovely to the high command Sunday.
Sources said probable candidates were being assessed on the basis of whether they had already served as full-time presidents in the past, rendering them ineligible as working presidents. At the same time, the party is considering if those who had served as working presidents in the past were fit to be handed full-time charge.
“Time is of essence as Lovely’s announcement has the potential of severely denting the image around the relationship between the Congress’s national and local leadership in light of the allegations that he made,” a party insider said.
“While there is a possibility that more leaders from the Delhi unit, who sympathise with Lovely, walk out over the coming days, the high command may also take action against many of his aides on disciplinary grounds even before choosing his successor,” the insider added.
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