Arvinder Singh Lovely was the Delhi unit chief in the Congress’ heyday — when his mentor Sheila Dikshit reigned supreme as the three-term Chief Minister between 1998-2013. Since 1998, when he became the youngest MLA in Delhi Assembly, Lovely has never lost an election and hopes to surge back from East Delhi where he is fighting Atishi Marlena of the AAP and cricketer Gautam Gambhir of the BJP. In an interview to BusinessLine, Lovely explained why he expects to win. Excerpts:
How can you hope to win when the AAP has captured most of the Congress’ base vote in slum clusters, among minorities and the migrant population?
The AAP was riding an illusion in 2015. That has been shattered since then. They have not won a single election. They lost badly in the corporation polls and they will lose in the Lok Sabha election as well… They will be far behind the Congress. As far as splitting our voters is concerned, I would urge you to check with people in Trilokpuri, Kondli and Patparganj, or any locality of your choice, and ask them what the BJP has done in the East Delhi Municipal Corporation — where they rule — and how the AAP has helped.
The BJP is inefficient and corrupt and the AAP is helpless. Their only explanation for not doing anything is that we don’t have the power. The Congress, on the other hand, has a proven track record in Delhi. People know that we transformed the city and we did it even during the six years that the BJP was in power at the Centre.
But Atishi Marlena has really worked in the education sector. That is AAP’s track record. The government schools in Delhi have improved
Let people judge the work that has been done in the last four years as compared to what the Congress did in a calm and sober manner. We are a responsible party. And all these candidates that you are mentioning, including Gautam Gambhir, are outsiders to East Delhi. Both Atishi and Gambhir seem to be spending all their time on twitter as opposed to going and meeting people. I ask them, if you don’t have time to meet people when it is your need to ask them for votes, what will you do when people need you? They are paratroopers in East Delhi. And some star campaigners do not turn around your fortunes. An actor called Swara Bhaskar came here yesterday (Tuesday) and left the meeting midway because there were no people around.
Don’t you think an alliance with the AAP would have helped you? The BJP benefits from a split in your voter base which you two share
Why do you think the BJP dumped Maheish Girri (sitting BJP MP from East Delhi) and fielded a star candidate? That is because they know they will lose. I am the only credible candidate from East Delhi with a proven record.
Does the ‘Modi factor’ help the BJP in Delhi?
It only reminds the voter of broken promises. The traders are reminded of the sealing of their shops, bad GST implementation and demonetisation. The unemployed are reminded of the job losses… Do you want me to go on?