It is often said that political parties can’t stay away from the caste and religion card, and the Aam Aadmi Party is no exception either. Months after AAP leader Atishi dropped her last name Marlena, controversy over her name has cropped up again. On Sunday, Atishi and senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia attended a Shastra Puja Dussehra event organised by Kshatriya Vichar Manch. The banner in the background referred the East Delhi Lok Sabha in-charge Atishi as “Atishi Singh”.

This is probably the first time the surname Singh has been used with her name. Pictures of the event were shared by the AAP’s official Twitter handle, showing women gifting a sword to Atishi.

However, Atishi has not changed her name on social media platforms and there is no official correspondence from the party either.

Notably, soon after it was made clear that Atishi could try her electoral luck in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, she had dropped her last name Marlena. Party sources and media reports had said back then that opposition parties were spreading rumours based on her last name. It seemed that the party succumbed under pressure.

The AAP was accused of using a similar caste card during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Former AAP leader Ashutosh had suddenly become Ashutosh Gupta in the election rallies—a move that Ashutosh himself regretted later.

Ashutosh was amongst the first to react on Atishi’s surname development. He tweeted [in Hindi]: “It’s saddening if it’s true? As far as I know Atishi she would never approve this (using her surname as Singh). Arvind Kejriwal too should publically criticise such moves.”