The Bharatiya Janata Party has opposed the Aam Aadmi Party-led government’s decision to include former Mysuru ruler Tipu Sultan’s portrait in the Delhi Assembly’s galleries, The Indian Express reported on Saturday. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, on Friday, had unveiled the portraits of 70 people who are considered pivotal to India’s struggle for Independence on the occasion of Republic Day.



The BJP-Shiromani Akali Dal alliance’s Rajouri Gardens MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa questioned the Aam Aadmi Party’s decision. “Why include someone who is this controversial?,”Sirsa told The Indian Express. “Why not include people who are from Delhi?”

The AAP, however, downplayed the opposition to the portrait. “We asked the BJP and their MLAs to suggest names from either their party or the RSS who had worked for the freedom struggle. But they could not come up with any,” said AAP MLA and spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj.

Speaker Ram Niwas Goel accused the BJP of indulging in “cheap politics”. “I want to tell them that the Constitution also carries a picture of Tipu Sultan on page 144,” Goel said. So either the people who fought the British to free the country and wrote this Constitution were gaddar [traitors] or they [the BJP] are.”