The political landscape in Delhi took a turbulent turn on Saturday with a fiery exchange between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after Atishi, senior AAP leader and Delhi’s Leader of Opposition, made serious allegations against newly-appointed Chief Minister Rekha Gupta. In a strongly worded social media post, Atishi accused Gupta’s husband, Manish Gupta, of unofficially taking control of the Delhi administration, effectively calling him the "shadow CM".
Atishi’s post included a photograph purportedly showing Manish Gupta leading a high-level meeting with senior bureaucrats and department heads from crucial civic and infrastructural bodies such as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), the Public Works Department (PWD), and the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB). She alleged that despite not holding any official government position, Manish Gupta appeared to be issuing instructions to government officials, suggesting a grave violation of democratic norms and administrative procedure.
She drew a controversial parallel between this alleged situation and the age-old phenomenon often seen in rural India, where the husbands of elected women Sarpanches (village heads) would handle all the duties in their wives’ names—undermining the very essence of their electoral mandate.
“Earlier we used to hear stories from villages where women were elected Sarpanch, but their husbands controlled all the decisions. Today, we are witnessing something shockingly similar in the national capital. This time, it is not a village, but Delhi. Not a Sarpanch, but a Chief Minister,” she wrote.
Atishi didn’t stop there. She questioned whether Rekha Gupta’s alleged lack of active governance was directly linked to some of the worsening civic issues in Delhi, including:
-
Frequent and prolonged power outages across the city, affecting residential and commercial life.
-
Rising fees in private schools, pointing to a perceived failure in regulating education costs.
-
Administrative paralysis and growing dissatisfaction among citizens due to delays in basic services.
She went on to ask:
“Is Rekha Gupta incapable of handling governance? Is that why her husband is stepping in? Is this the reason why people in Delhi are suffering?”
The BJP, however, quickly countered the narrative. Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva strongly condemned Atishi’s remarks, accusing her of demeaning a woman leader and dragging personal lives into political discourse.
“Atishi, being a woman leader herself, should be ashamed of trying to belittle another woman’s success. Rekha Gupta is a seasoned leader with a long-standing political career. She does not need anyone else to run her office,” Sachdeva said.
He went on to defend the role of spouses in supporting leaders, claiming that such personal support is not uncommon and should not be construed as unethical unless there is concrete proof of administrative overreach or violation of protocol. Sachdeva then turned the focus back on the AAP, accusing the party of hypocrisy, citing how Sunita Kejriwal, wife of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, addressed the public from the official CM residence after her husband’s arrest.
“Was that not a breach of constitutional propriety? Why was no one from AAP questioning that moment? This selective outrage reeks of political desperation,” he added.
This controversy comes at a time when Delhi's political atmosphere is already volatile due to the ongoing investigation into the Delhi excise policy, the arrest of several AAP leaders, and the power vacuum following Kejriwal’s legal troubles. Rekha Gupta was appointed CM as a stopgap leader by the BJP, but AAP’s latest attack signals that the opposition intends to put pressure on her administration from day one.
As political rhetoric intensifies and both parties prepare for upcoming municipal and assembly-level battles, the current row touches upon deeper themes—the role of unelected individuals in governance, women’s autonomy in leadership, and ethical boundaries in political engagement.
