BJP, AAP trade barbs over 'Sheesh Mahal' weeks ahead of Delhi polls

New Delhi, Jan 6 (PTI) The BJP on Monday sharpened its attack on AAP with its charge of a "big scam" in the reconstruction of former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's official bungalow, while the ruling party hit back by pointing to the funds spent on the prime minister's residence and aircraft.

The BJP fired a fresh salvo at Kejriwal, alleging that while a CAG report has highlighted an expenditure of Rs 33.86 crore on his 'Sheesh Mahal', the actual cost runs up to Rs 75-80 crore if the inventory of the items in the 6, Flagstaff Road Bungalow in Civil Lines are included.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report pertains to the expenditure till 2022 and that there is no revelation on expenses during 2023 and 2024.

Responding to BJP's accusation following the CAG findings, senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia said, "Is there any report on prime minister's Rs 2,700-crore residence and Rs 8,500-crore plane and Rs 10-lakh suit?" Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj also defended the AAP chief, saying that the bungalow does not personally belong to him and whoever, either from the BJP or any party, becomes the next chief minister will reside in that house.

"If the BJP is raising questions about the CM's residence, then they should present the expenditure details of the PM’s office before the public. Both the residences should be opened to the public and media for inspection so that people can decide. Repeating the same allegations again and again doesn’t make sense," Bharadwaj alleged.

The announcement of elections to the 70-member Delhi Assembly scheduled to be held next month is expected this week.

Earlier on Monday, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra claimed that the CAG report also indicated that the AAP government under Kejriwal incurred much higher expenditures on advertisements for various programmes than the money spent on their implementation.

"Expenditure on the house and the political shop, no expenditure on people. This is the reality of Arvind Kejriwal’s party. But the people of Delhi are watching and listening, and they will definitely give a response in the (upcoming) elections," Patra said at a press conference.

Citing the findings of the CAG report, Patra claimed the cost for "remodelling" Kejriwal's previous official residence was initially estimated at Rs 7.61 crore, but it was "repeatedly" revised and increased at various stages with "no justification for the payments to the consultants".

A payment of Rs 33.66 crore was made for the construction of Kejriwal's 'Sheesh Mahal' in April 2022, which was 342.31 per cent higher than the initial estimate of Rs 7.61 crore, Patra claimed.

The BJP has been using the term 'Sheesh Mahal', a colloquial Hindi term for an opulent house, to target Kejriwal for some time now.

"You will be surprised. The CAG report says the PWD made a proposal for remodelling Kejriwal's house, saying the existing single-storey building will be demolished to build a two-storey house to make it bigger. The proposal was accepted within a day," the BJP spokesperson said.

"We have never heard of such a big scam anywhere," he added.

In his recent two events, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over the expenditure on Kejriwal's previous official residence.

Speaking at an event in Ashok Vihar on Friday, Modi said instead of building a 'Sheesh Mahal' for himself, he worked to fulfil the dream of four crore people in the country to have a "pucca" house.

Kejriwal hit back, saying, "The talk of Sheesh Mahal does not behove a person who has built a Rs 2,700-crore house for himself, travels in a Rs 8,400-crore aeroplane and wears a Rs 10-lakh suit." The AAP chief said he does not want to get into a blame game as he has never indulged in "abusive politics and personal attacks".

On Monday, the Delhi BJP chief claimed that the CAG has raised 139 questions and very minutely detailed the "black deeds of Kejriwal".

He alleged that the bungalow was reconstructed without permission of the Delhi Urban Arts Commission and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

"What message did a chief minister give to Delhi by constructing the bungalow in an unauthorised manner?" he said.

If the real cost of the bungalow is to be determined, the accounts of the public works and other departments have to be checked, Sachdeva said.

He also alleged that the Public Works Department, instead of functioning as a government agency for the construction of the bungalow, acted as a "private organisation" to please Kejriwal. PTI VIT PK NSM BUN RHL