Reacting to the resignation of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Arvinder Singh Lovely from his post, Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit on Sunday said Lovely has experienced “personal pain” over the last two to three months due to developments in the grand old party.

Lovely’s resignation from his post comes amid the ongoing seven-phase Lok Sabha elections when Delhi is scheduled to go to polls on May 25.

In a four-page letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Lovely expressed anguish over the functioning of the Congress.

Several Congress leaders including Sandeep Dikshit and Subhash Chopra met Lovely at his residence in the national capital.

Talking to reporters, Sandeep Dikshit said, “I haven’t read the letter. Being the Delhi Congress president and a Congress worker, he (Arvinder Singh Lovely) has a personal pain.”

“His (Arvinder Singh Lovely) pain is that we are struggling to bring back our old reputation in Delhi. Becoming the president of Delhi Congress is a crown of thorns,” Dikshit said, emphasising the demanding nature of leadership within the party.

“Despite this, he worked hard in the last 6-8 months and built the party, which is evident through INDI alliance rallies,” Dikshit said.

He also emphasised the need for unity and consensus within the Congress, and said, “When we get two or three seats, it seems that if we give seats to people with the consent of all the people of Congress, then the work will go better in the future.”

Talking to a news agency, Subhash Chopra said Lovely has resigned only from the post and not from the party.

“I asked him why he resigned (from the post of Delhi Congress chief). He said all the reasons have been sent to the party president. It is our party’s internal matter and we will resolve it through discussion. He said he has only resigned from the post, not from the party,” Chopra said.

Lovely, in his resignation letter to Kharge said that despite the Aam Aadmi Party accusing the Congress of corruption, the party allied (INDIA bloc) with them.

“The Delhi Congress Unit was against an alliance with a party which was formed on the sole basis of levelling false, fabricated and malafide corruption charges against the Congress Party. Despite that, the Party decided to ally with the AAP in Delhi,” Lovely wrote in his resignation letter.

He said that since he cannot protect the interests of the party workers, he sees no reason to continue in the said post.