New Delhi, Aug 31 : With less than seven months left for the Lok Sabha elections and after days of discussions, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday appointed Arvinder Singh Lovely as the Delhi Congress chief replacing Chaudhary Anil Kumar. In an official communication, Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal said, 'Congress president has approved the appointment of Arvinder Singh Lovely as the Delhi Congress chief, with immediate effect.' It also said that the party appreciates the contribution of outgoing state unit chief Chaudhary Anil Kumar. The development comes days after the Congress president discussed the issue of replacing the Delhi unit chief with several leaders, including former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and several others from the Delhi unit. Lovely has also served as a minister in the Sheila Dikshit-led Congress government in the national capital. He contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections unsuccessfully from the east Delhi Parliamentary seat. The Congress, which had ruled the national capital for three consecutive terms under Sheila Dikshit has been unable to win a single seat in the Delhi assembly in two consecutive assembly elections. The appointment comes at a time when the Congress along with 26 like-minded opposition parties have brought the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) to take on the BJP at the centre. The AAP, which is currently a ruling party in the national capital is also part of the alliance and many of the senior leaders of Delhi have objected to having any kind of alliance with it in the national capital. Even several Congress leaders have objected to having any kind of alliance with AAP in Punjab. /IANS