The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has demanded the resignation of Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal after her remarks on senior leader Atishi, who has been named the next Chief Minister of Delhi. Ms Maliwal reads out the BJP’s script despite being sent to the Rajya Sabha by the AAP, said senior party leader Dilip Pandey.
“Swati Maliwal takes the Rajya Sabha ticket from AAP but takes the script to react from BJP. If she has even a little shame, she should resign as a Rajya Sabha MP and choose the path to Rajya Sabha on a BJP ticket,” said Mr Pandey.
The demand for her resignation caps a massive rift between Ms Maliwal and the party – sparked by her allegation that Mr Kejriwal’s aide Bibhav Kumar had assaulted her at the Chief Minister’s house.
The AAP this morning announced Atishi as the successor of Arvind Kejriwal, who is set to resign as the Chief Minister this evening. Mr Kejriwal has vowed that he won’t he won’t occupy the top post until the people elect his party again in the upcoming polls.
AAP’s choice of Atishi for the top role drew harsh remarks from Ms Maliwal. Terming it a sad day for Delhi, she claimed that her parents had tried to save terrorist Afzal Guru from being handed.
“Today is a very sad day for Delhi. Today, a woman whose family fought a long battle to save terrorist Afzal Guru from being hanged is being made the Chief Minister of Delhi. His parents wrote mercy petitions to the Honorable President to save terrorist Afzal Guru,” said Ms Maliwal in an online post.
She termed Atishi a “dummy CM” and accused her parents of being in a political conspiracy.
“According to them, Afzal Guru was innocent and was framed as part of a political conspiracy. Although Atishi Marlena is just a ‘dummy CM’, still this issue is related to the security of the country. May God protect Delhi,” said the former chief of Delhi Commission for Women.
Atishi, who is currently the Education Minister of Delhi, hasn’t reacted to the remarks yet.
Ms Maliwal’s ties with the AAP had worsened after the March episode that saw Mr Kumar’s arrest. She had even accused the AAP of victim-shaming her after she made the allegations. Reacting to the allegations, Mr Kejriwal had told PTI that a fair probe must be held since there are two versions of what had happened.
