Former Delhi Cong leaders, including Arvinder Singh Lovely, join BJP
New Delhi, May 4: Former Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely joined the BJP on Saturday along with a few other leaders, including former MLAs Raj Kumar Chauhan, Neeraj Basoya and Naseeb Singh.
All the former Congress leaders, who have publicly slammed the opposition party's alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi for the Lok Sabha polls, joined the BJP in the presence of Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, party general secretary Vinod Tawde and its Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni.
Lovely hailed the BJP leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for giving him and his colleagues the opportunity to join the party when they felt lost.
He asserted that Modi is set to retain power in the Lok Sabha polls and expressed confidence that the BJP's flag will fly high in Delhi as well.
The seven parliamentary seats in the national capital will go to polls on May 25 in the sixth round of the seven-phase elections, voting for which began on April 19. Votes will be counted on June 4.
A four-term former MLA like Chauhan, Lovely had recently quit as Delhi Congress president protesting the party's alliance with the AAP.
All these Congress leaders had echoed similar views. Amit Malik, a former youth Congress leader, also joined the BJP.
It is believed that these leaders were also upset with their party's choice of candidates, including Kanhaiya Kumar and Udit Raj, for the Lok Sabha polls here.
This will be the second innings of Lovely in the BJP after he left it to rejoin the Congress in 2018 following a brief stay in the saffron party.
Puri praised these leaders and said the BJP will utilise their services effectively.
Lovely said the people of Delhi want to rid the city of the AAP government headed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is currently in jail in the excise scam case.
Chauhan said the AAP government has pushed the city backwards after all the "development" seen earlier, a reference to the Congress government headed by Sheila Dikshit.
Both he and Lovely were ministers in her government.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said no one can stand with those who have "looted" the city as he welcomed them to his party.
INDIA bloc parties AAP and Congress are fighting the polls in Delhi under a seat-sharing arrangement. While the AAP has fielded candidates from four seats, the Congress is contesting the elections from three.
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Putin meets Iran's FM Araghchi, says Russia ready to do its best to help bring peace to West Asia
Moscow (PTI): Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday met Russian President Vladimir Putin, who hailed the Iranian people for fighting bravely and heroically for their sovereignty and said Moscow is ready to do its best to help bring peace to West Asia as soon as possible.
Araghchi, who held talks with Omani and Pakistani leadership before arriving in Russia, met Putin in St. Petersburg and thanked him for supporting Iran, state-owned TASS news agency reported.
"Russia is ready to do everything in its power to ensure that peace in the Middle East is achieved as soon as possible," Putin said during his meeting with Araghchi, which was also attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Revealing that he received a message from Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei last week, Putin asked Araghchi to convey his "gratitude for this message and best wishes for his health and well-being."
He praised the Iranian people for fighting "bravely and heroically" for their sovereignty, Iran's state-run PRESS TV reported.
"We really hope that, based on the courage and desire for independence, the Iranian people, under the guidance of the new leader, will weather this difficult period of trials and peace will come,” Putin said.
He also stressed that Russia “intends to maintain” its strategic relations with Iran.
Araghchi said that the world witnessed Iran’s strength in countering the US during the recent war, and that the Islamic Republic is a "stable and powerful establishment."
"With their courage, the Iranian people succeeded in resisting the US aggression and will be able to endure it,” he said.
He said that it became clear that Iran has “great friends and allies” like Russia, and conveyed “warmest greetings” from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian to the Russian leader.
Araghchi said relations between Moscow and Tehran represent a “strategic partnership at the highest level” and will continue to develop "regardless of circumstances."
"We are grateful to you for the solid and strong positions in support of the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said.
Foreign Minister Lavrov said that the talks between President Putin and the Iranian Foreign Minister were "useful and constructive."
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said that Russia is "ready to provide any good offices, any mediation services that are acceptable to the parties."
"We will be ready to do everything so that ultimately peace ensues, guaranteed peace, and that there is no return to hostilities," Peskov was quoted as saying by TASS.
He was asked how Moscow can assist in future negotiations on the Iranian settlement.
Araghchi arrived in Russia after his whirlwind trip to Islamabad, which, according to him, was “very productive” and involved “good consultations" with Pakistan's Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, amid uncertainty over the second round of peace talks to resolve the war in West Asia.
"We held good consultations with our friends in Pakistan. The trip was successful. We assessed the outcome of our recent (meetings) and discussed in what direction and under what conditions talks can move on,” Araghchi said in a video posted on his Telegram channel upon his arrival in St Petersburg.
Referring to the second round of talks between the US and Iran to resolve the conflict in West Asia, Araghchi said: "Developments have taken place in the negotiations."
"Despite some progress in earlier rounds, the talks failed to reach their objectives due to the Americans' approach, the excessive demands they made, and the wrong approaches they adopted. Therefore, it was necessary to consult with our friends in Pakistan to review the latest situation,” Iran's official news agency IRNA quoted him as saying.
He said that the trip to Pakistan was a good opportunity to review developments related to the US-Israeli war against Iran, expressing confidence that “these consultations and coordination between the two countries will be highly significant.”
Araghchi arrived at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport early Monday, where he was welcomed by Russian officials and Iran’s ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, the report said.
The first round of peace talks between Iran and the US, held on April 11 and 12, failed to bring the desired result for the parties to the conflict.
The Iranian minister arrived in Islamabad for the second time on Sunday after a short visit to Oman, where he held talks with Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said on security in the Strait of Hormuz and diplomatic efforts to end the Iran-US conflict.
After Araghchi left Pakistan for Oman on Saturday, President Donald Trump announced that US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would no longer be going to Islamabad for talks with Iran, contending that Washington held all the cards on the matter.
Trump on Sunday reiterated that the US and Iranian officials can talk by phone for a peace solution to the conflict.
On Tuesday, Trump extended the two-week ceasefire with Iran indefinitely to give Tehran more time to prepare a unified proposal to end the war, just hours before the truce was set to expire.
The war began when the US and Israel jointly attacked Iran on February 28, killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several top commanders. The retaliation by the Islamic Republic extended the war to the entire Gulf region.
