Govt accommodation BJP calling 'Sheesh Mahal' is my camp office: Punjab CM Mann

Chandigarh, Nov 1 (PTI) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday said the house in Chandigarh which the BJP is calling “Sheesh Mahal” is a government accommodation and his camp office, as he asked the saffron party to stop its “dirty propaganda”.

Mann also said if the BJP really wants to see what a “Sheesh Mahal” actually looks like, they should go and look at the private residence of their own leader and former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh at Mullanpur on the outskirts of Chandigarh.

The BJP on Friday alleged that former Delhi chief minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal is being provided a ‘Sheesh Mahal’ with seven-star facility in Punjab under Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's quota, even though the former is neither an elected MLA nor part of the state government.

“People of Delhi removed Kejriwal from his ‘Sheesh Mahal' in the capital but the mindset has not changed. A ‘Sheesh Mahal 2.0’ is being made in Punjab using taxpayers’ money under the chief minister's quota because Kejriwal is the super CM of Punjab,” BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla charged in a video message.

With other BJP leaders, including those from Punjab, mounting an attack on the AAP over the issue, Mann on Saturday launched a fierce counter attack.

In a video message, Mann said he strongly condemns the “false” and “dirty propaganda”, which the BJP is indulging in. He claimed the saffron party has no agenda for Punjab, and that is why it was venting its frustration in this way because the people of the state rejected them in the 2022 polls.

Mann also accused the BJP of trying to divert people’s attention because “the AAP is spreading its wings in Gujarat”.

“The BJP is indulging in a misleading and dirty propaganda that the Punjab government has built a Sheesh Mahal in Chandigarh. It is claimed that House No. 50 in Chandigarh's Sector 2 is a Sheesh Mahal where Kejriwal lives.

“Chandigarh is a Union territory which is directly under the Centre. Show me one letter that says we have allotted a house to Arvind Kejriwal,” Mann said.

“I want to make it very clear that the day I took oath (as chief minister) on March 16, 2022, government houses were allotted to the chief minister and other ministers. Kothi No. 45 in Sector 2 is the chief minister’s official residence.

“Similarly, Kothi No. 50 in Sector 2, about which they (BJP) are making misleading claims, is mentioned as the camp office of the chief minister. It is part of my house. It is a camp office/guest house,” he said.

The chief minister said that guests and other dignitaries from around the country come and meet him at the camp office where some of them also stay.

“I also hold meetings there sometimes. Will the BJP people call the Punjab CM’s camp office Sheesh Mahal,” he asked.

Stating that even a Haryana minister has a similar government accommodation near his house, Mann wondered if the BJP will call it a ‘Sheesh Mahal’ as well.

Mann also said the BJP should keep in mind that their leader and former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh has built a “Sheesh Mahal” in Mullanpur.

“The BJP does not have any agenda for Punjab, and that is why it is stooping to this level,” Mann said, quashing the saffron camp’s allegations.

“Sometimes, they ask why Kejriwal is living here. I want to tell the BJP that if they really want to see Sheesh Mahal, I will give the address. Go and see the Sheesh Mahal of Amarinder Singh at Siswan in New Chandigarh (Mullanpur). Look at the Sukhvilla of (SAD leader) Sukhbir Badal, that is Sheesh Mahal,” he added.

Calling himself a man from an ordinary background, Mann said when such a person lives at a government accommodation allotted to the chief minister, they (BJP) call it “Sheesh Mahal”.

“We are elected by people and these are people's homes. We meet scores of people in these houses. But the BJP claims my guests live in Sheesh Mahal. They should stop such dirty propaganda," the chief minister said.

“Those living in Sheesh Mahals are your leaders,” he told the BJP. Man also said that Punjab chief minister’s official residence in Delhi is called Kapurthala House, which the BJP may now call Sheesh Mahal as well.

The chief minister also alleged that Union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu, the maternal grandson of former Punjab chief minister late Beant Singh, is holding on to a government house near the Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh.

Calling that house a “Sheesh Mahal”, Mann alleged, “Bittu is illegally occupying that house which comes from Punjab chief minister’s pool. He is not vacating it despite the Punjab government writing multiple letters in this regard… We have to make it a guest house.

“The house was allotted in the name of Beant Singh's son Tej Prakash on the grounds that the family was then under threat… However, Bittu is occupying it even today with no such threat perception.” He also claimed that despite being a national party, the AAP has not even been allotted space in Chandigarh for a party office.

“But if you see in Delhi, the BJP has built an 11-star Sheesh Mahal (as its party office),” he claimed. PTI SUN VSD ARI