The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday slammed BJP after President Droupadi Murmu took cognisance of the memorandum submitted by the saffron party and forwarded it to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), seeking action on BJP’s demands to dismiss Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led government in Delhi.

A delegation of BJP MLAs met President Murmu on August 30 and submitted a memorandum, urging her urgent intervention in the Constitutional crisis plaguing Delhi due to Kejriwal’s imprisonment.

Retorting sharply at BJP, Delhi Minister Atishi accused the saffron party of conspiring to topple the Kejriwal government through the back door by imposition of the President’s rule in Delhi.

The accusation comes a day after the Opposition BJP stated in the memorandum that Delhi was facing a constitutional crisis and demanded proper attention on the matter from the MHA.

AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh also lashed out at the BJP, declaring that his party is prepared for the elections.

“If BJP feels that it wants to lose quickly, then it should announce the date of Delhi Assembly elections tomorrow itself. We are ready for the elections,” Singh said.

Talking to 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 elections and the AAP will win all the 70 seats.

Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta on Monday alleged that paralysis of governance in Delhi was caused by Chief Minister Kejriwal being in jail for more than four months on serious corruption charges in the excise policy case.

Atishi said the BJP’s only job is to topple the elected governments in the country through its “Operation Lotus” as happened in 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.

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

National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Sunday said the BJP top brass was focussing its election campaign on Jammu as they want to intimidate the Hindu voters of Jammu and Kashmir by creating false fears.

Abdullah also accused the BJP of misleading the people by claiming that terrorism would rise again if the National Conference and Congress alliance came to power in Jammu and Kashmir.

“BJP wants to threaten the Hindu community. They think the Hindus will vote for them but today the Hindus have changed. First, they sought votes in the name of Ram and now they want to intimidate them,”  Abdullah charged.

National Conference leaders Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah paid tributes to the founding leader of the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference and father of Farooq Abdullah, Sheikh Abdullah on his 42nd death anniversary, in Srinagar.

Speaking to reporters after paying tribute, he said BJP repealed Article 370 of the Constitution but did terrorism end. Terrorism is rising again and it is all their responsibility, he added.

Abdullah was responding to a question on why Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were campaigning in Jammu while ignoring Kashmir.

Reacting to Shah’s criticism of the NC-Congress coalition during his visit to Jammu, the former Chief Minister said he was only trying to malign his party.

“National Conference will win. I only want to say to Amit Shah that we are against the India they want to create. The country belongs to everyone. Those who are raising their voice against Muslims should know that Muslims have also sacrificed their lives for the freedom of this country,” he said.

 “But, God willing they won’t succeed. Our efforts will pave the way to serve for the betterment of our people. The Home Minister can keep saying as much about us as he wants but I want to tell him that we are against that Bharat, which they want to create. Bharat belongs to all — Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists.

“We are not intruders. We and not snatching away mangalsutra. Muslims have an equal contribution towards the freedom of India,” he added.

On restoration of statehood, Abdullah said the NC-Congress alliance would get it back. On BJP manifesto for Jammu and Kashmir polls, he said it was just a “jumla” (rhetoric).

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the collapse of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s statue in Maharashtra saying it was an insult to the Maratha icon.

Assuring that a life-size statue of late Congress leader Patangrao Kadam in Maharashtra’s Sangli district installed by his party will be here even after 50-70 years, while Shivaji Maharaj’s statue, Gandhi said, fell only a few days later after being inaugurated by PM Modi.

Addressing an event here, he said Prime Minister should apologise not just to Shivaji Maharaj but also to every person of Maharashtra.

The Raebareli MP said Congress’ ideology is in the DNA of Maharashtra. Earlier, there used to be politics, but today there is an ideological fight in India, he added. “We want social progress but BJP wants that only a select few get all benefits,” he said.

“I am feeling happy to be here to remember Kadam ji. He dedicated his entire life to serving the Congress party, Maharashtra, and the country. He did a lot of developmental work, educational work and stood with the Congress party throughout his life,” Gandhi said.

The former Congress chief said Maharashtra is a progressive state and different people carried out progressive work here and inspired the public here.

Mentioning the party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, also present at the event, Gandhi said: “As we landed, I told Kharge ji that I have noticed one thing. I said you become happy when I go to Karnataka with you, but I have also noticed that you are equally happy when you come to Maharashtra. He replied, the Congress party’s ideology is rooted deep into Maharashtra, that’s why I am happy when I come here.”

In a post on X, Gandhi took a jibe at PM Modi and said Maharashtra and the whole country want to know why the Prime Minister apologised.

In a series of speculations, Gandhi asked did PM Modi apologise for giving contracts to RSS people without merit, for the corruption in the construction of the statue, or for insulting a revered great man like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Gandhi asked.

“Whatever the reason, the Prime Minister and BJP are criminals of entire Maharashtra along with Shivaji Maharaj – they should apologize to every resident of the state for their behavior and corruption”, the Congress leader said.