DPCC chief Arvinder Singh Lovely to have new team soon

New Delhi: Tasked with rebuilding the party after its severe drubbing in Assembly and Lok Sabha polls, Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely on Sunday said he will soon have a "new-look" team which will be a combination of young and experienced.

The party leadership last month had dissolved all 14 district and 140 block committees in the national capital and gave Lovely a "free hand" to strengthen the party in the city. Office bearers of DPCC were also relieved from their posts. "We would like to have fresh blood in the party organisations. At the same time, we will utilise the services of experienced people. The team will be be a mixture of young and experienced," Lovely told PTI. He said almost all communities will be given responsibilities in the party organisations, reflecting its inclusive agenda for welfare of all sections. Congress was handed a humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha polls as all its seven MPs, including two Union ministers, were relegated to third positions in their constituencies. The party had suffered a severe drubbing in the assembly polls in December last year, winning a paltry eight seats in the 70-member House after being in power for 15 consecutive years. Congress was comprehensively defeated in the municipal polls in 2012 also. "I have been given the task of rebuilding the party and I am doing my best in meeting the challenge. I am confident that we will be able to win back support of people," Lovely said. Admitting that he was faced with a major challenge, Lovely said the support base of Aam Aadmi Party was eroding fast and people who had deserted Congress were coming back to the party. "People no longer trust AAP. The party had befooled people by its misleading campaign in the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls. People have seen AAP`s 49-day-long government. I am pretty confident that people will not give another chance to AAP," he said. To revive the party, Lovely has already launched an aggressive campaign to regain the lost ground. The party has been holding series of protests in the last few days demanding improvement in supply of power and water in the city. Debunking reports about back channel talks with AAP, the DPCC chief said Congress will not consider extending support to the party again as it had betrayed "trust" of people.