Let us talk on work, not name says Atishi

New Delhi, Sep 2: Senior AAP leader Atishi, who is in the middle of a row for dropping her surname Marlena ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, said on Saturday talks should not be on her name change but on her work.

She had been named Marlena apparently after Communist thinkers Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin.

The Aam Aadmi Party had rejected reports that it forced Atishi, party's east Delhi Lok Sabha probable, to change her last name because it was "Christian-sounding".

Responding to queries about her name change at a press conference to release the joint manifesto of AAP's student wing Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS) and Left-wing student outfit All India Students Association (AISA), Atishi said, "I had left my surname a long time ago. I feel one should not talk about name but about the work we have been doing. The talk should be about issues like women's security, education."

As part of the change, Atishi's Twitter is now "@AtishiAAP" from the earlier @Atishimarlena.

The AAP leader's profile in the party's official website has also been changed. Campaign leaflets and posters also carry her first name only.

The AAP is yet to officially declare its candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, scheduled to be held next year.

However, they have named Atishi (East Delhi), Raghav Chadha (South Delhi), Pankaj Gupta (Chandni Chowk), Dilip Pandey (Northeast Delhi) and Ghuggan Singh (Northwest Delhi) as in-charges of these constituencies.

Party sources had said the five would be declared as AAP's Lok Sabha candidates later.