BJP conspiring to topple Kejriwal-govt through ‘back door’: Atishi on claims of constitutional crisis in Delhi

As accusation of constitutional crisis in Delhi have been flagged by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), senior AAP leader and minister Atishi on Tuesday accused the BJP of conspiring to topple the Arvind Kejriwal government through “back door” by imposition of the President's rule.

This comes a day after the President's secretariat forwarded the opposition BJP's assertions that Delhi was facing a constitutional crisis to the MHA for “proper attention”.

Talking to news agency PTI, Atishi said that if the Kejriwal government is toppled, the Delhiites will give a befitting reply by giving zero seats to the BJP in the upcoming assembly polls.

On August 30, a memorandum submitted by Delhi BJP MLAs to President Droupadi Murmu, requesting the dismissal of the AAP government in Delhi for alleged constitutional violations, was forwarded to the Ministry of Home Affairs for "proper attention".

Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta said the Kejriwal government must respond to issues raised in the memorandum and alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was playing "victim card" and "misleading" people over the issue.

Atishi has alleged that this is a part of BJP's "Operation Lotus" as the party's only job is to topple the elected governments in the country citing Maharashtra, Karnataka and Manipur.

"They also tried Operation Lotus in Delhi to topple the government by poaching the AAP MLAs, but they failed. Now, they are conspiring to impose the President's rule through the back door to topple the popular government of Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi," she alleged.

Atishi said that people of Delhi "love" Kejriwal because he provided them good schools, hospitals, electric buses, free bus travel to women and free pilgrimage to the elderly.

"If the BJP topples the Kejriwal government, the people of Delhi will give it a befitting reply. The BJP will lose even the eight seats it holds now and will be reduced to zero in the upcoming assembly polls and the AAP will win all the 70 seats," she said.

The elections to the 70 seats of the Delhi Assembly are due early next year.