Mounting fresh attack on Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday said that “her family staunchly supported Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.”
The two parties have been at loggerheads lately over BJP leader Ramesh Bidhuri’s controversial remarks at the Delhi chief minister which triggered sharp reactions.
Bidhuri on Sunday drew flak for his remarks that he will make roads in Kalkaji which will be like “Priyanka Gandhi’s cheeks” and targeting Atishi over dropping her surname.
Even as Bidhuri expressed regret following uproar over his remark against Priyanka Gandhi, the Congress lashed out at him alleging his statement reflected anti- women sentiment of the BJP.
The AAP has also attacked Bidhuri and the BJP over his remark on Sunday in which he said Atishi replaced her surname “Marlena” with “Singh” and went on to add she “changed her father”.
On Monday, Delhi BJP media department head Praveen Shankar Kapoor in a statement said that political leaders should refrain from making “personal gender related or family related comments” against others.
BJP’s fresh ‘Afzal Guru’ attack at Atishi
Senior BJP leader and party’s in-charge for Delhi, Baijayant Jay Panda, on Tuesday claimed that “her family staunchly supported Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.”
Bidhuri is contesting against Atishi from the Kalkaji Assembly segment.
He added, “She has still not distanced herself from this. Her own party insults women. The former chief minister (Arvind Kejriwal) who was in jail has openly described as a temporary CM. This is an insult”.
On Monday, Delhi BJP media department head Praveen Shankar Kapoor also made similar remarks. “As an individual or elder, we all respect Atishi Marlena’s father but as Marlena is a Chief Minister, the people of Delhi want her to once for all come forward and condemn her father for supporting Afzal Guru or justify her parents’ act,” Kapoor said in the statement.
Meanwhile, Atishi on Tuesday alleged that the BJP-led Centre snatched away the chief minister’s official residence by cancelling its allotment, an allegation termed “lies” by the BJP.
BJP IT department head Amit Malviya said there are “no takers for her lies”.
“The allotment of ‘Sheesh Mahal’ has been withdrawn, as we learn, for two key reasons: first her failure to take possession and second CBI/ED investigation,” Malviya said in a post on X.
In another post on X, the BJP leader also posted a purported letter of withdrawal issued by the Public Works Department (PWD) Secretariat on Monday and said, “Delhi Chief Minister Atishi Marlena is lying. She was allotted Sheesh Mahal on October 11, 2024.”
“She hasn’t still occupied it because she doesn’t want to offend Arvind Kejriwal,” he added.
The BJP has been using the term ‘Sheesh Mahal’, a colloquial Hindi term for referring to an opulent house, to target Arvind Kejriwal since a row erupted over expenditure incurred on the renovation of 6, Flagstaff Road, house, where the AAP national convenor lived with his family during his tenure as the Delhi chief minister.