New Delhi: The BJP Tuesday sought to corner AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal in the run-up to the Delhi Assembly polls by releasing a video of his previous residence at 6 Flagstaff Road, describing it as a “Sheeshmahal” that symbolises “corruption”.
AAP lashed back, accusing the BJP of running a “smear campaign” to divert people’s attention from the “worsening” the law-and-order situation in the national capital. The Delhi Police is under the control of the Union government, presently led by the BJP.
The bungalow in question was occupied for over nine years by Arvind Kejriwal who vacated it after resigning as chief minister. After leaving the bungalow in the Civil Lines area, he shifted to the official accommodation of his party MP from Punjab at Ferozeshah Road in Lutyens’ Delhi. The BJP’s Delhi unit president Virendra Sachdeva, while releasing the video of the reconstructed bungalow at 6 Flagstaff Road, alleged the AAP supremo kept the “seven-star resort-like ‘Sheeshmahal’ hidden from public gaze to portray himself as a victim”. The video showed a well-equipped gym and top-of-the-range interiors and fittings. In a post on X, Sachdeva claimed crores of rupees were spent on “a gym, sauna room, jacuzzi, marble granite, lighting and fittings”.
“The money spent on Kejriwal’s Sheeshmahal could have been readied 34 EWS flats, 15 LIG flats, 150 CNG autos or 326 e-rickshaws for employment,” the Delhi BJP chief claimed in a statement.
Hitting back, AAP said in a statement that ever since Kejriwal started raising the issue of Delhi’s “worsening” law and order, the BJP has tried to divert attention by raising the issue of the “official residence” of Delhi chief minister.
After Kejriwal vacated the Flagstaff Road bungalow, his successor Atishi tried to shift there as Delhi chief minister but left it after the Public Works Department said an inventory of the residence was not done.
“Arvind Kejriwal does not live in that house anymore. It has been more than three months since he vacated it. It is the official residence of the Delhi chief minister,” AAP said.