A few hours after Congress leaders congregated in the Ramlila Maidan to observe what they termed as a "symbolic" fast against the rising cases of Dalit violence and Centre's inactivity over the dilution of the SC/ST Act, a photo surfaced of prominent leaders of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) leaders enjoying a greasy breakfast at popular haunt in Old Delhi.
The photo, that soon went viral on social media networks, showed DPCC president Ajay Maken, former DPCC president Arvinder Singh Lovely, and former Delhi minister Haroon Yusuf tucking into a breakfast of choley-bhatoorey at the century-old Chaina Ram Sindhi Confectioners at Chandni Chowk. Soon, Lovely spoke to reporters at Raj Ghat and said, "I am not denying. It is true, we went to have breakfast before 8 am. It is day-long fast, not an indefinite fast, which started at 10:30 am. Nothing wrong with it," said Lovely.
Lovely, who left the Congress a year ago to join the BJP, rejoined the Congress this year in February. Calling himself a misfit in the saffron party, Lovely had reportedly left the party because he was unhappy with Maken's style of functioning.
Maken, the organiser of the fast, snapped at reporters when he was asked about the photo. "Aren't we allowed to eat before 11 am?" he angrily asked. Maken, who took over as the DPCC chief from his mentor, former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, further faced the heat from his own party. Tehseen Poonawalla called him ignorant and said that Maken had single-handedly destroyed Rahul Gandhi's Dalit outreach programme.
"Even if the breakfast plan may have been made for 8 am by some leader… as the boss of Delhi Congress, do u not have the intelligence to say NO or invite people into your house for breakfast! Seriously could u not stay 1 day away from cholas!! (sic)" Poonawalla tweeted.
The third prominent DPCC leader, former minister Haroon Yusuf has been a close Dikshit aide for years, and like Lovely, was also unhappy with the functioning under Maken, but stayed back in the party.
