Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 31: The “Sheeshmahal” controversy, widely seen as a key reason for the Aam Aadmi Party’s defeat in the Delhi elections earlier this year, is back again, this time to target the AAP’s government in Punjab, the only state the former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s party in power.
In a bid to attack Mr Kejriwal, the BJP has posted photograph of an alleged 7-star bungalow in Chandigarh’s sector 2 which it claimed had been “allotted” by the Punjab government to Kejriwal. The narrative the BJP used to good effect in the Delhi election eight months ago – accusing the then chief minister of having misused Rs 45 crore of taxpayers’ money – has been redeployed for the Chandigarh bungalow.
The “7-star bungalow”, which is reportedly spread over two acres, was allotted to him by the Punjab government, which is controlled by the AAP, the BJP declared in its post. The AAP countered by demanding proof the bungalow had, in fact, been allotted to Kejriwal reminding the BJP that Chandigarh, the capital city of both Punjab and Haryana, was a union territory under the control of the Central government and the local municipal corporation is also run by the BJP.
The AAP also accused the BJP of peddling misinformation after being caught out over air pollution in Delhi. The AAP national media officer, Anurag Dhanda, offered a cheeky response of his own, pointing out the Chandigarh administration is controlled by the BJP. “… when are you going to demolish it?”
“The man who pretended to be the ‘common man’ has had another grand ‘sheeshmahal‘ built…” the BJP’s Delhi unit had said on X, “After the Delhi ‘sheeshmahal‘ was vacated, Punjab’s ‘Super Chief Minister’ Arvind Kejriwalji has had an even more splendid ‘sheeshmahal‘ built in Punjab…”
BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla also claimed AAP leaders beaten in the Delhi election had been ‘compensated’ by appointing them to positions in Punjab, and demanded an explanation. “And this isn’t the only thing… they (the AAP) have not given money promised to women of Punjab but provided a 100-car convoy for Kejriwal’s VVIP security, then ‘7-star mansion for him,” he said.
In a post on X, the BJP shared a satellite image of what it says is a “luxurious 7-star, two-acre government bungalow” being readied in Chandigarh’s Sector 2. The party claimed that the bungalow is being constructed for Kejriwal from Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s “quota.”
“Big Breaking – The man who pretended to be the common man, Kejriwal, has had another grand Sheesh Mahal built,” the post on the X handle of BJP’s Delhi unit said. Referring to Kejriwal as Punjab’s “super CM,” it said the AAP chief has an “even more spending Sheeshmahal” after vacating his Delhi bungalow. “In Chandigarh’s Sector 2, a luxurious 7-star government mansion of 2 acres on the CM quota has been allotted to Arvind Kejriwal ji,” the post said.
BJP’s Punjab unit called the alleged bungalow Kejriwal’s “new royal palace.” They alleged that the state government was working as “Kejriwal’s personal service team, wasting taxpayers’ money while Punjab suffers in drugs, unemployment, and corruption.”
The photo was also re-posted by the AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal whose relations with her parent party remained frosty after she started showing abuses on Mr Kejriwal and also levelled allegations against his trusted lieutenant Bibhav Kumar of manhandling her last year.
Maliwal also accused the Punjab government of being engaged in “serving one man.” “Yesterday, he (Kejriwal) boarded a government helicopter right from in front of his house for Ambala, and then from Ambala, the Punjab government’s private jet took him to Gujarat for party work…” she claimed.
Maliwal also lashed out against what she termed as AAP’s “attempt to portray the bungalow in Sector 2…as a camp office.” “If this is a camp office, then in the last 4 years, how many people came here to meet the CM? How many times did the CM sit in this office?” Maliwal questioned in a post on X. She further asked how Kejriwal could be residing in the office. “The truth is that Punjab’s super CM resides in this house,” the Rajya Sabha MP added.
The AAP’s Delhi unit responded swiftly, hitting back at a ‘frustrated BJP.’ “Ever since the Prime Minister’s fake Yamuna story was exposed, the BJP seems to have lost its cool. And in its frustration, the BJP these days is faking everything. Fake Yamuna, fake pollution figures, fake claims of rainfall, and now fake 7-star claims,” the party said.
Mr Dhanda replying to the BJP’s Delhi unit chief Virendra Sachdeva, who had accused Kejriwal and the AAP of trying to “loot Punjab,” said “Chandigarh has a BJP administration. So the question is: Who approved the map? Who gave the electricity connection? Who gave the water connection? How did the police allow it to be built?”
The photo shared by Delhi BJP and Maliwal showed the ‘sheeshmahal‘ built on a corner plot and in the centre of a large expanse of trees and manicured gardens, in an otherwise deserted expanse of land.
Earlier this month the BJP government in Delhi had confirmed plans to convert the ‘sheeshmahal‘ in the national capital – at 6, Flag Staff Road, into a guest house, complete with an in-house cafeteria cancelling its post-election claims that it would be turned into a “museum.” The new Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta had said, “Sheeshmahal” in Delhi would be a gross addition to the city’s tourist highlights. “We will include ‘sheeshmahal‘ on the circuit. We will sell tickets and show people…”
Kejriwal and the AAP were thumped in the February election, losing control of the Delhi government for the first time in over a decade. The party that won 60+ seats (of 70) in 2015 and 2020, managed only 22, crowned by the ignominy of Kejriwal, a three-time MLA, losing his own seat and the “sheeshmahal” controversy highlighted by the BJP was seen as a key reason for the AAP trounce.
