'Congress Workers' Resentment Fuels Protests Against Kanhaiya Kumar's Candidacy in Delhi
Disgruntled Congress workers rallied in protest outside the newly established office of Kanhaiya Kumar, the party's candidate for the North East Delhi seat. Their dissent stemmed from the resignation of state Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely, who quit in protest against Kumar's selection.
The protesters carried black posters emblazoned with slogans demanding 'local candidates, not outsiders.' Lovely, in his resignation letter, criticized Kumar for allegedly lauding the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its leader, Arvind Kejriwal, in violation of party guidelines and the sentiments of local workers.
The Congress and AAP are contesting the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi as part of the 'India Bloc' alliance. However, Lovely contended that the selection of Kumar and Udit Raj, who is running in the North West Delhi seat, had drawn the ire of Congress leaders and grassroots members who perceived them as 'outsiders.'
Kumar, a former president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union, joined the Congress in 2021. Notably, he unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Bihar's Begusarai constituency on a Communist Party of India (CPI) ticket.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was quick to seize upon Lovely's resignation to criticize the Congress. Party spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla accused Kumar of having made disparaging remarks against the armed forces and glorifying Naxalites as martyrs.
Poonawalla also pointed to the Congress's past denunciations of the AAP, particularly its allegations of involvement in a liquor scam. He suggested that the Congress-AAP alliance was driven by mere political expediency and would not necessarily translate into electoral success.
'The Congress is unable to retain its leaders because they are holding a mirror to its hypocrisy,' Poonawalla remarked.
In his resignation letter, Lovely also alleged 'interference' by Deepak Babaria, the Congress's general secretary in charge of Delhi.
Amidst the turmoil, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge directed party general secretary K.C. Venugopal to engage with Lovely and seek a resolution to the crisis plaguing the Delhi Congress.'
