In a major setback to the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in the national capital, former Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely, former city government minister Raj Kumar Chauhan and three former leaders from the grand old party, joined the BJP on Saturday.

Lovely, former Congress MLAs Raj Kumar Chauhan, Naseeb Singh, Neeraj Basoya and former Youth Congress president Amit Mallik joined the BJP at the party headquarters here this afternoon in the presence of Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, BJP national General Secretary Vinod Tawde and Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva.

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All the former Congress leaders expressed confidence in the BJP’s ideology and the developmental politics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Lovely resigned from the Delhi Congress chief on April 28 and wrote a letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge citing that he was against the alliance between Congress and AAP in Delhi.

Raj Kumar Chauhan, the former Delhi minister and the All India Congress Committee (AICC) member resigned from the party last month after Delhi Congress’ disciplinary committee objected to his ‘dissent’ to the party line.

After joining the saffron party, Lovely thanked the top leadership of the BJP and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave them an opportunity when they are politically lost. He pledged continuous contributions to the nation’s development and the fight against corruption in Delhi.

Meanwhile, Raj Kumar Chauhan said those involved in the liquor scam are robbing the people of Delhi, and they will take these issues to the public.

Puri congratulated all the five former Congress leaders on joining the BJP, saying that their inclusion will no doubt strengthen the party in Delhi. He expressed hope that their joining will further bolster BJP’s prospects in the upcoming elections in the national capital.

Voting for all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi is scheduled to take place on May 25, during the sixth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. The counting of votes for all the seven phases of the Lok Sabha polls will be held on June 4.