Country needs Cong, says DPCC interim chief Yadav

New Delhi: Devendra Yadav, who formally took over as the interim president of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) on Sunday, said “today, the country needs the Congress”.

He thanked the party leadership for entrusting him with this responsibility. “I thank Congress for nominating me for this position. I am grateful to Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Ajay Maken, who have also accompanied me here,” Yadav said. The Congress leader also expressed his gratitude towards all the party workers saying he also started his political career as a worker and has seen a lot of struggles and hardships.

“Today Congress, which is our mother, needs us. Today, the country needs Congress,” the Delhi Congress’ interim chief said. Yadav was appointed as the interim president of Delhi Congress on Tuesday, two days after Arvinder Singh Lovely resigned from the post while criticising the party’s alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the national capital.

Lovely joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday along with a few other leaders, including former city government minister Raj Kumar Chauhan and former MLAs Neeraj Basoya and Naseeb Singh. Yadav, who won from the Badli assembly constituency in Delhi in 2008 and 2013 and lost to Ajesh Yadav of AAP in 2015, is currently the All India Congress Committee’s (AICC) Punjab in-charge.

Lovely, in his resignation letter to the Congress president, had said that he found himself “handicapped” as all unanimous decisions taken by senior Delhi unit leaders were “unilaterally vetoed” by the AICC’s Delhi in-charge Deepak Babaria.

He had also criticised Congress candidates -- Kanhaiya Kumar from North East Delhi and Udit Raj from North West Delhi -- for their statements and said tickets were given to two people who were total strangers to the Delhi Congress and party policies. Reacting to Lovely joining the BJP, Yadav on Saturday called him an “opportunist” and said “the party does not care much about such people. The Congress was strong before and will remain strong in the future as well”.