Devender Yadav, who was the interim president of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC), took charge as the Delhi Congress president on Sunday.

This latest political development comes a day after former Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely joined the BJP.

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After taking charge as Delhi Congress president, Yadav asserted that he will work hard to fulfill the responsibilities bestowed upon him and expressed the hope that the INDIA bloc will win all seven seats in Delhi in the Lok Sabha elections.

“It is an important day for me because I have been given a big responsibility. I want to thank the central leadership for showing faith in me and want to assure them that I will work hard to fulfill all my responsibilities. These are difficult times, but we will work and you will see that the INDI alliance will win all 7 seats in Delhi to strengthen the Congress,” he told a news agency.

Yadav on Saturday slammed his former colleague, Lovely, who joined the BJP and said some people have “selfish motives” but pointed out that the turncoat leader might have had some ‘compulsions’.

“A few people’s selfish motives and aspirations grow a lot. This is the same Lovely who had advocated for an alliance with AAP. Today, he made an excuse because he had to go to the BJP. Lovely might have had some compulsions. But his character has come before everyone today,” he said.

Meanwhile, after joining the BJP, Lovely said he had resigned last Sunday from the post and till date no response has been received from party leaders.

“I had resigned last Sunday and till date no response has been received from the party. So those who cannot take care of their own people, how will they take care of the people of Delhi?” Lovely said.

He also mentioned that he met all his colleagues and thousands of Congress workers after resigning who said to him that he should not sit at home but continue his fight for the people of Delhi.

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

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

Yadav was made interim president of DPCC days after Lovely announced his resignation from the post of party’s Delhi unit chief through a letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.

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.

According to the seat-sharing agreement under the INDIA bloc, the Congress is fighting on 3 Lok Sabha seats in Delhi while the AAP is contesting on 4 seats in the polls.

Counting of votes for all the seven phases of the Lok Sabha polls will be held on June 4.