Have only resigned as Delhi Congress chief, not joining any political party: Arvinder Singh Lovely
New Delhi, Apr 28: Arvinder Singh Lovely on Sunday said he has only resigned as chief of the Congress' Delhi unit and is not joining any other political party.
His clarification came after Congress ex-MLA Asif Mohammad Khan claimed that the BJP would field Lovely from the East Delhi constituency, replacing Harsh Malhotra.
"I have only resigned as Delhi Congress chief and I am not joining any political party," he said at a press conference at his residence.
Lovely said his resignation reflected the pain of Congress workers saddened by the fact that the "ideals they had been fighting for during the last seven to eight years" were being compromised.
"We are fighting the elections together but never did the Congress workers say that we are giving a clean chit to them or giving them credit for building schools and hospitals, which is far from the reality," Lovely said, referring to the party's tie-up with the AAP in Delhi for the Lok Sabha polls.
"Those who are saying that I have resigned out of anger over ticket (distribution), it is not like that. You all know that I introduced the candidates by holding a press conference three days ago," Lovely said.
Earlier in the day, AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj asked in a post in Hindi on X, without naming anyone, if the BJP was changing its candidate for East Delhi.
Questioned about Bharadwaj's post and whether it hinted at him joining the BJP, Lovely said he only resigned as the Delhi Congress chief.
"Thanks for Bharadwaj's wishes. I think he takes decisions on behalf of all other parties. I have just cleared to you that I resigned from the post of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president," Lovely said.
In a setback to the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Lovely resigned as the party's Delhi unit chief, citing the alliance with the AAP as one of the reasons.
He said the Congress' Delhi unit was against the alliance but the party high command went ahead with it.
"The Delhi Congress unit was against an alliance with a party which was formed on the sole basis of levelling false, fabricated and mala fide corruption charges against the Congress party ... half of the cabinet ministers (of the party) are presently in jail on corruption charges," Lovely said in his resignation letter sent to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday.
"Despite that, the party (Congress) made a decision to ally with the AAP in Delhi. We respected the party's final decision ... I even went to the extent of visiting Mr (Arvind) Kejriwal's residence on the night of his arrest along with Mr Subash Chopra and Mr Sandeep Dikshit, despite the same being against my position on the matter," he said.
The Congress is contesting the Lok Sabha elections in an alliance with AAP in Delhi. As part of its seat-share arrangement, the Congress is contesting from three seats while AAP has fielded candidates from four constituencies in the national capital.
Lovely had resigned as chief of the Congress' Delhi unit in 2015, taking moral responsibility for the party's worst-ever performance in the assembly elections.
The Congress had failed to win a single seat in the 70-member House as AAP swept to victory in 67 constituencies and the BJP won three.
Lovely contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 from East Delhi against the BJP's Gautam Gambhir and AAP candidate Atishi, securing 24 per cent votes.
Gambhir won the seat by 3.93 lakh votes ahead of Lovely in second.
Delhi's seven Lok Sabha seats will go to the polls in the sixth phase on May 25.
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AI, IndiGo, SpiceJet seek ATF price relief; say airline industry on verge of 'stopping operations'
Mumbai (PTI): Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet have told the government that the country's airline industry is under extreme stress and on the verge of "stopping operations", as they sought revision in ATF pricing and financial support.
The West Asia turmoil has pushed up oil prices, and airspace restrictions have increased airlines' operating costs, especially on long-haul routes. Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) accounts for around 40 per cent of a carrier's operational expenses.
Against this backdrop, the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) has written to the civil aviation ministry, seeking steps to extend the same fuel pricing mechanism uniformly across both domestic and international operations as was done in the past with the establishment of the crack band.
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With an unprecedented rise in jet fuel prices and exorbitant crack/differential between crude and ATF, the federation said the operation of airlines is being challenged in totality.
"... any ad hoc pricing (domestic vs international) and/or irrational increase in the price of ATF will result in unsurmountable losses for airlines and will lead to grounding of aircraft, resulting in cancellation of flights," the federation, which represents Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet, said.
"In order to survive, sustain and continue operation, we request your urgent intervention for immediate and meaningful financial support to tide over the current situation," it said in a letter on April 26.
Also, the airlines have sought temporary deferment of excise duty on ATF, which is at 11 per cent.
"With the abnormal increase in ATF prices from the pre-crisis period, adding rupee depreciation to the increased prices, the 11 per cent excise duty also increases manifold for the airlines and adds to the ATF price as a big impact on airlines," they said.
Last month, the government limited the hike in ATF price to Rs 15 per litre for domestic operations, but for international operations, the price rose by Rs 73 per litre.
The airlines said the situation has practically made international operations, along with domestic operations, completely unviable and resulted in significant losses for the aviation sector in April.
Seeking urgent intervention on the current ATF ad hoc pricing, FIA said the current situation is creating a severe imbalance in domestic and international operations and rendering airline networks unviable and unsustainable.
"The airline industry in India is under extreme stress and is on the verge of closing down or of stopping its operations."
The federation has pitched for a transparent pricing framework under the crack band mechanism (USD 12–22/BBL) that was implemented in October 2022, saying there was a fair and reasonable margin for Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).
According to FIA, the country's largest aviation hub Delhi has the second-highest value-added tax (VAT) of 25 per cent on jet fuel, while the highest rate is 29 per cent levied in Tamil Nadu.
"The other major aviation cities, viz. Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Kolkata range between 16 per cent and 20 per cent. These 6 cities cover more than 50 per cent of airlines' operations within India," the federation said.
