Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday came out in defence of his party’s leader Atishi over a pamphlet row with BJP leader Gautam Gambhir and said that his party, AAP, will send a defamation notice to the cricketer-turned-politician.

Calling Atishi a “highly educated and an accomplished woman”, Kejriwal said that the BJP is unable to tolerate the achievements of a woman.

“This is the mentality of BJP. Even today BJP leaders are saying the same things that were written in the pamphlet,” he said.

“They have filed defamation case against us after defaming us. We are sending defamation notice to Gautam Gambhir today. We will not leave this matter,” the AAP chief was quoted as saying by ANI.

Praising Atishi, who is AAP’s East Delhi candidate, Kejriwal said, “Atishi is a highly educated and an accomplished woman. Her work has been great in the field of education which is being discussed worldwide. I don’t understand why BJP can’t tolerate achievements made by women.”

On Thursday, Gambhir, the BJP candidate from East Delhi Lok Sabha seat, sent a defamation notice to Kejriwal, Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia and Atishi after he was accused of distributing “derogatory” pamphlets against his AAP rival.

In the notice, the trio was asked to withdraw their allegations against the cricketer-turned-politician and tender an unconditional apology.

On Thursday, Atishi had accused Gambhir of circulating pamphlets with derogatory remarks against her ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi on Sunday.

The pamphlet reportedly called Atishi is a “very good example of a mixed breed”.

Addressing a press conference, Atishi broke down saying that the “BJP has shown how low they can stoop”.

But in a series of tweets, Gambhir rubbished the charge saying that the AAP had fabricated the allegation to win the elections.

I abhor your act of outraging a woman’s modesty @ArvindKejriwal and that too your own colleague. And all this for winning elections? U r filth Mr CM and someone needs ur very own झाड़ू to clean ur dirty mind.

— Chowkidar Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) May 9, 2019

My Challenge no.2 @ArvindKejriwal @AtishiAAP
I declare that if its proven that I did it, I will withdraw my candidature right now. If not, will u quit politics?

— Chowkidar Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) May 9, 2019

Gambhir received support from cricketer Harbhajan Singh, who on Friday took to Twitter saying that the former cricketer can never talk ill of any woman.

“I am shocked to note yesterday’s events involving Gautam Gambhir. I know him well and he can never talk ill of any woman. Whether he wins or loses is another matter but the man is above all this,” Singh tweeted.

I am shocked to note yesterday’s events involving @GautamGambhir. I know him well and he can never talk ill for any woman. Whether he wins or loses is another matter but the man is above all this

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) May 10, 2019

At the time of writing, Singh’s tweet had been liked 52K times and retweeted 16K times.