Lovely day for BJP: 'Arvinder Singh' praises Modi, switches allegiance

On paper, the two could be clones. Apart from sharing the same name, till 24 hours ago they also swore allegiance to the same political party.

But on Tuesday, one of the two “Arvinder Singh Lovely” broke from his family tradition and left the Congress to join the BJP. 

The son of Congress leader and former Union home minister Buta Singh, who shares the name with Delhi Congress chief and is also an ex-legislator like him, joined the BJP claiming he was greatly influenced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

“I feel Dalits and the exploited communities of society shall be able to join the mainstream only under the leadership of Modi,” said Buta Singh’s son as he joined the BJP at a function tactically used by the saffron party to claim a wave in its favour after Modi’s rally on Saturday.

The similarity between the new BJP member and the current Delhi Congress chief does not end with the name Arvinder Singh, the nickname “Lovely” and the association with the Congress. Both are turban-wearing Sikhs. 

The Delhi Congress chief, who is a former legislator from Gandhi Nagar constituency, does not wear spectacles like the new BJP member, who was elected the Congress legislator from Deoli constituency in south Delhi in 2008.  

Initially, there was confusion over who was joining the BJP. Ahead of the event held at the Delhi unit office, information trickled out that “Arvinder Singh Lovely” was joining the BJP.

Media persons went into a tizzy, frantic calls to the Delhi Congress followed. Some TV crews even dashed towards the All India Congress Committee office a few kilometres away.  

A BJP leader, who probably orchestrated this defection, tried to add to the drama by saying: “Tomorrow’s newspapers’ headline will be ‘Arvinder Singh Lovely joins BJP’.”

The mystery ended when Delhi BJP chief entered the news conference room with a bespectacled, turbaned Sikh who did not appear like the Delhi Congress chief, who is much younger. 

The function was used by the Delhi BJP for playing mind games and mounting pressure on political rivals to project a growing popularity of the party.

Along with Buta Singh’s son, some other Congress and Aam Aadmi Party leaders joined the Modi brigade, ahead of the February 7 Assembly poll. 

The new entrants included Rashtriya Lok Dal Councillor Anita Tyagi (Chhattarpur), former Congress Councillor Deepak Choudhary, Pradesh Congress Secretary Shashikant Dikshit, Congress leaders Gopal Pahariya, Ashok Lohia,  Ardesh Sharma,  Mahender Tyagi,  M P Sharma and Sardar Harpreet Singh, and AAP leaders Sandeep Dubey and engineer Chandrakant Tyagi, social worker and advocate Omkar Singh Sikarwar.