AAP’s Saurabh Bharadwaj compares the situation to a fictional village where a female leader’s husband unofficially takes charge, calling it unconstitutional.
The CM’s office defends the meeting as part of development work review, while her husband, a businessman, has no formal role in the administration.
The controversy raises concerns about nepotism and governance ethics, with the CM’s office yet to respond to the allegations.
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta came under fire from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday for permitting her husband to attend official government meetings, claiming that the action was "unconstitutional" and a "example of nepotism."
According to The Indian Express, AAP's Delhi in-charge Saurabh Bharadwaj posted images from the Chief Minister's Instagram account on X. The images showed the CM's husband, Delhi-based businessman Manish Gupta, sitting next to her at an official review meeting with officials. Gupta's Twitter account also included the same pictures.
“Delhi government has turned into Phulera Panchayat,” Bharadwaj wrote, drawing a parallel to the fictional village of ‘Phulera’ in the web series Panchayat in which the husband of a woman sarpanch informally exercises authority. “Just like the husband of the female head used to work as the head in Phulera Panchayat, today in Delhi the husband of the CM is sitting in official meetings… This is completely unconstitutional. Democracy and the constitutional system are being made fun of in the country’s capital,” he alleged.
The Indian Express reported that Bharadwaj challenged the BJP further, claiming that it had long criticised the Congress for encouraging dynasty politics. "What is nepotism if this isn't it? Does the chief minister of the biggest party in the world have no more employees she can rely on? "What is the reason behind her husband's inclusion in the government's administrative structure?" he wrote.
The photos in question were from a review meeting chaired by CM Gupta on Saturday at Jan Seva Sadan in Shalimar Bagh constituency. “Today, the Chief Minister reviewed the ongoing development works in the Shalimar Bagh Assembly constituency at Jan Seva Sadan. In the meeting, officials were directed to regularly assess the progress of ongoing works and submit detailed status reports within the stipulated time frame,” Gupta wrote in her post.
According to her, choices were made to remove skewed trees, start market revitalisation, and establish harvesting stations in waterlogging-prone locations after talks on ongoing projects and land-use issues. The CM added, "Our top priority is the timely completion of public interest works and their continuous review."
Reportedly, Gupta's husband attended the meeting with representatives from the Shalimar Bagh seat as well as BJP party activists, despite the fact that he does not have an official party position there. The AAP's accusations were not addressed by Gupta's office.
