AAP Legislator Somnath Bharti's mother Manorama Rani Bharti and wife Lipika Mitra.
High drama took place at a media conference today by Aam Aadmi Party legislator Somnath Bharti's wife Lipika Mitra, who has alleged domestic violence.
As Ms Mitra announced that she was contemplating taking her husband to court, Mr Bharati's mother arrived at the venue - the home of Delhi Commission for Women or DCW chief Barkha Singh, who is considered close to the Congress.
Seventy-year-old Manorama Rani Bharti made her appearance after a group of lawyers representing her son were ordered off the premises; she said she had come to meet the women's panel chief, not her daughter-in-law. But she claimed she wished to keep the couple together and was even ready to move to an old-age home.
"I don't know anything about the allegations. I want her to come back and stay at home," she said.
Ms Mitra, 40, complained to the police and the Delhi Commission for Women last week that she was physically and mentally abused and financially deprived. Mr Bharti has claimed she filed a false complaint as she wanted him to leave his mother and settle abroad.
Today she alleged that her husband Somnath Bharti, a former Delhi Law Minister, texted her, saying: "Are you crazy that you have gone to the National Commission or Women?" He had also asked her in text messages "whether I am working for BJP," she said.
Ms Mitra said she was hurt that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal hadn't called her. "When the tiff between a traffic cop and a woman biker happened in Delhi, he congratulated the woman for her courage. Then why didn't he call me?" she asked.
Mr Bharti has described the allegations as politically motivated. "In how many cases Barkhaji has called a press conference at her residence to help the complainant?" he questioned.
An hour later, he tweeted,