Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal on Saturday slammed outgoing Delhi chief minister Atishi after she was seen dancing after her victory from the Kalkaji seat in the assembly elections despite Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) being trumped by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
"What kind of shameless display is this? The party lost, all the big leaders lost and Atishi Marlena is celebrating like this," Ms Maliwal, once a close associate of Mr Kejriwal, posted on X and shared a video of Ms Atishi celebrating her win with AAP supporters.
Ms Atishi, who won from the Kalkaji seat for the second straight time, defeated BJP's Ramesh Bidhuri, a former MP, by a margin of 3,521 votes. She received 52,154 votes whereas Mr Bidhuri polled 48,633 votes with Congress' Alka Lamba securing the third place with 4,392 votes.
Ms Atishi is among a few AAP ministers and senior leaders who won the elections as most of the party's big guns, including Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Saurabh Bharadwaj, and Satyendar Jain, lost.
The AAP has come down to 22 in the 70-member Delhi assembly from the high of 62, while the BJP ended its nearly three-decade wait in the national capital and won 48 seats. The Congress failed to win any seat in the Delhi polls for the third straight time.
Swati Maliwal Attacks Arvind Kejriwal
Swati Maliwal, who has emerged as one of the AAP's most vocal critics in recent times, also blamed Arvind Kejriwal for the party's loss in the assembly elections, calling him "arrogant".
Speaking to NDTV, she claimed that the AAP chief does not believe in internal democracy.
"I feel that if a person gets extremely arrogant and stops working for the people, then people teach that man a lesson. That is exactly what has happened with Arvind Kejriwal today. All of us have contributed so much to the party. We came with a vision that we would change Delhi...But unfortunately, we could not because of our leadership who does not believe in internal democracy, who believes he can get away with anything with speaking any lie, with beating up people," Ms Maliwal said.
In May 2024, she accused Bibhav Kumar, a close aide of Mr Kejriwal, of assaulting her at the Chief Minister's official residence. She alleged that during a visit to discuss pressing issues, she was "beaten badly" in the drawing room while Mr Kejriwal was present in the house.
