"Tactics to hide corruption," says Delhi CM after AAP alleges no Ambedkar, Bhagat Singh pictures at her office
Feb 24, 2025
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New Delhi [India], February 24 : Delhi Chief Minister and BJP leader Rekha Gupta on Monday said that in a bid to hide their corruption and misdeeds, the Aam Aadmi Party was resorting to "tactics" by accusing the newly elected government of removing photographs of BR Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh from the CM's office.
"This is their tactic to hide their corruption and misdeeds behind Babasaheb Ambedkar and Shaheed Bhagat Singh...Should the photo of the Head of Government not be put up? Should the photo of the President of the country not be put up? Should the photo of Father of the Nation Gandhi ji not be put up? Bhagat Singh and Babasaheb are respectable personalities of the country and our guide. So, this room is of the CM of Delhi and as the Head of the Government, we have given them the space. It is not my work to answer them, I am answerable to the people..." Gupta told ANI.
The Bharatiya Janata Party also refuted the allegations by Atishi and Arvind Kejriwal. "The chambers of Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and all the ministers of the Delhi cabinet have pictures of Mahatma Gandhi, Bhagat Singh, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on their walls," it said.
Delhi Minister Ashish Sood underlined that the government's priority remains to fulfil their promises to the people instead of answering to AAP.
"Our priority is to fulfil the promises we have made to the people of Delhi. We fulfill all our guarantees and show...When they (AAP MLAs) cannot welcome the Delhi CM, will they ever appreciate our work? But the work done by us will be an answer to them," Sood told ANI.
Earlier in the day, former Delhi chief ministers Atishi and Arvind Kejriwal had alleged that pictures of Babsaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh were removed from the office of the Delhi CM.
In his X post, the AAP convenor and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote, "The new BJP government of Delhi removed Babasaheb's photo and put up the photo of Prime Minister Modi. This is not right. This has hurt millions of followers of Babasaheb".
The AAP supremo further requested the BJP not to remove Ambedkar's photo, saying,"I have a request to BJP. You can put the photo of the Prime Minister but do not remove the photo of Babasaheb. Let his photo remain there."
Atishi in a post on X said, ""BJP has shown its true anti-Dalit and anti-Sikh face. Photos of Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar and Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh have been removed from the Chief Minister's Office of Delhi Legislative Assembly."
The first day of the Delhi assembly today under the new BJP government saw a clash between the treasury benches and opposition Aam Aadmi Party members regarding the alleged removal of portraits, which led to a brief adjournment of the House.
Speaker Vijender Gupta chastised AAP over the sloganeering. "The opposition is behaving irresponsibly. You will get time. An attempt is being made to hurt the dignity of the House. I urge opposition members to take their seats and allow the House to function. AAP members have come with an intention to disturb the House. You should not have made it a political platform. The opposition does not want the House to run smoothly," he said.
This lead to the House being adjourned for 15 minutes.