BJP attacks Atishi, says she will operate ‘corrupt and anti-national’ government

PTI, Sep 18, 2024, 8:40 AM IST

Atishi (Credit: PTI / File)

New Delhi: The Delhi unit of BJP on Tuesday attacked Aam Aadmi Party’s chief minister-designate Atishi, claiming her parents had signed a mercy petition submitted to the President for Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

“Not just a corrupt government, but an anti-national government will now operate” in Delhi, BJP’s Delhi unit chief Virendra Sachdeva said.

Arvind Kejriwal has pushed Delhi “to anarchy after announcing Atishi Marlena’s name. There’s a reason behind it… A mercy petition was submitted to the President for Afzal Guru and her parents signed it,” he alleged.

Hitting back, AAP’s Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh alleged that the BJP is the “biggest anti-national in India”.

The BJP formed a government in Jammu and Kashmir with the PDP which called Afzal Guru a “martyr”, he claimed.

As the AAP legislature party elected Kejriwal’s handpicked successor Atishi as its leader following his resignation as CM, the Bharatiya Janata Party said changing the face of the chief minister will not change the character of the Aam Aadmi Party.

BJP leaders said AAP would have to answer the corruption allegations against its government.

“‘Chehara badalane se AAP ka charitra nahi badalega’ (changing the face does not change AAP’s character)… Considering Kejriwal’s 10 years of corruption, whoever is the CM will have to tell people how they looted the people of Delhi,” Sachdeva said.

“They have indulged in corruption in every department and now the people will give them an answer for that corruption,” he said.

By admitting that Kejriwal “will remain the real CM”, Atishi has revealed herself to be a “dummy” CM, Sachdeva further alleged.

Hitting out at Kejriwal, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonwalla said, “Earlier we had a chief minister operating from jail who then became a chief minister on bail. Now it is being said that a proxy chief minister, a lame duck, is being brought at the helm”.

The AAP leaders have said that the Delhi chief minister’s chair belongs to Arvind Kejriwal and it will remain so, he alleged.

“This means the face will change, not the character…From de-jure chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal will become a de-facto chief minister,” Poonwalla said.

He alleged that there is corruption in every department under Atishi. “There is education scam, water scam, DJB (Delhi Jal Board) scam, ‘Sheesh Mahal’ scam and various other scams,” the BJP leader alleged.

“Atishi was the (AAP’s) in-charge in Goa where money made through liquor scam was used” in the state assembly elections, he claimed.

Atishi as a minister in the Kejriwal government held several portfolios, including education, Delhi Jal Board, Public Works Department and Finance.

Disgruntled AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal said that it is a “very sad day” for Delhi as “a woman whose family fought for terrorist Afzal Guru in order to save him from capital punishment is going to be the chief minister of Delhi”.

“Her parents sent a mercy petition to the President of India several times that Guru should not be hanged, he is innocent and has become the victim of a political conspiracy,” Maliwal alleged.

Kejriwal, who was released from jail on bail on Friday, announced on Sunday that he would resign from the post and would only return at the helm if people give him a certificate of honesty.

He also demanded that assembly polls be held in November. The Delhi Assembly’s term ends on February 23.