AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal on Wednesday made new and serious allegations regarding the family of Delhi’s Chief Minister-designate, Atishi.
Maliwal claimed that Atishi’s parents had close connections with SAR Geelani, an individual who was acquitted by the Supreme Court in the 2001 Parliament attack case.
Maliwal made her accusations public in a post, saying, “Atishi Marlena’s parents had close ties with SAR Geelani. Gilani was accused of having a hand in the attack on Parliament. In 2016, he organised a programme in the memory of Afzal Guru at the Press Club of Delhi.”
She further elaborated, “Atishi Marlena’s parents were with Gilani on stage in that programme. Slogans were raised in this programme – ‘If one Afzal dies, lakhs will be born,’ ‘Kashmir demands freedom.’ Atishi Marlena’s parents have written an article titled ‘Arrest and torture of Syed Geelani.’ God protect Delhi!”
The controversy follows Maliwal’s earlier allegations made on Tuesday, after Atishi was selected as the leader of the AAP Legislature Party. Maliwal accused Atishi’s parents of supporting the 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru through mercy petitions, seeking to overturn his death sentence.
“This is an extremely unfortunate day for Delhi. A woman like Atishi is going to become the CM of Delhi, whose own family fought a long battle to save terrorist Afzal Guru from the death penalty,” Maliwal stated.
“Her parents wrote mercy petitions to the President several times, that he is innocent, that he should not be hanged, that he is a victim of political conspiracy. How wrong is this? Today, Atishi will become the CM but we all know that she will be only a ‘dummy CM’. Still, this is a major issue because she will be the CM and this matter is directly linked to the security of the country as well as Delhi. God save the people of Delhi from such a CM,” she added.
Amid these allegations, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday tendered his resignation as the Chief Minister of Delhi, following his meeting with Lt Governor VK Saxena.
Atishi, who was elected by party legislators to be the next Chief Minister, also met LG Saxena to stake her claim for the top position.
Kejriwal proposed Atishi’s name during the AAP Legislature Party meeting, and her nomination was unanimously accepted by the party’s MLAs. As per sources, Atishi, 43, who represents the Kalkaji constituency, will be sworn in as Chief Minister during a special Assembly session on September 26-27, with no Deputy Chief Minister to be appointed.
