Devender Yadav is named temporary president of the Delhi unit by the Congress

On Tuesday, Devender Yadav, a former lawmaker who headed the party’s Punjab section, was named the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee’s (DPCC) acting president.

The appointment takes place two days after Arvinder Singh Lovely resigned from the office on Sunday, expressing his disagreement with the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party’s seat-sharing arrangement in Delhi for the city’s seven Lok Sabha seats.

“Devender Yadav has been named by the head of Congress as the DPCC’s temporary president, effective immediately. He will remain the AICC in-charge for Punjab, according to a press release from KC Venugopal, general secretary of the Congress organization.

“I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Smt. #Sonia Gandhi ji, Sh. @RahulGandhiji, Sh. @kcvenugopalmpji, Smt. @priyankagandhiji, and all of the top leaders of @INCIndia for their continued trust in me! Will do my utmost to follow the cherished and ideological path the party has put out for me and provide my all (sic),” Yadav said on X, appreciating the additional duty the party has given him.

Speaking with this reporter today, Yadav expressed his severe disapproval of Lovely’s decision to leave the party little over a month before the Delhi Lok Sabha election.

Dismissing Lovely’s allegation that he left the party to protest the deal the Congress made with AAP in Delhi for the Lok Sabha elections, Yadav stated that Lovely had enthusiastically endorsed the plan when it was approved at a meeting attended by former president Rahul Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge.

Yadav said, “I saw Lovely wholeheartedly supporting the agreement at the meeting.”

“An organization is always stronger than an individual. Lovely’s departure won’t have any impact on the city’s chances for Congress. Yadav predicted that the Congress will win all three of the Delhi seats it is running for.

When asked whether Lovely’s resignation from the Congress was due to the party refusing to provide him a ticket for the Lok Sabha elections, Yadav said, “Everyone knows what actually led Lovely to resign.”

Yadav, who twice served as a member of the Delhi legislature from the Badli seat between 2008 and 2013, was named head of the party’s Punjab branch in December of last year. In the past, he has continued to lead the Congress party’s Uttarakhand branch.