Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 26: Forced to withdraw its candidate for the Delhi mayoral elections for lack of numbers making way for the Aam Aadmi Party to retain the post unopposed, the BJP opened a new front of attack on the AAP on Wednesday calling its supremo and the Delhi chief minister Avind Kejriwal a “hypocrite Maharaja” bringing an instant rebuttal from the AAP.
Levelling the charge was the BJP official spokesman Sambit Patra who alleged that Kejriwal spent more than ₹ 45 crore on renovating his residence accusing him of extravagant hypocrisy. Patra said Kejriwal had betrayed his promise of promoting honesty and simplicity when he entered politics. He called him a “Maharaja,” or king, and said he had a “lust for luxury and comfort.”
The allegation brought an instant emphatic rebuttals from the AAP showing videos of crumbling ceilings of the house allotted to the Delhi chief minister by the central government. It also compared the luxurious house allocated to the Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena and said the AAP supremo would any time be ready to exchange his “luxury house” with the LG’s “poor dwelling unit.”
The attack on Kejriwal came soon after the BJP was forced to withdraw its candidate for the mayoral elections held on Wednesday morning realising that it would lead to party’s certain defeat due to lack of numbers. Following the BJP’s withdrawal, the incumbent mayor, the AAP Shelly Oberoi will continue to hold the office of the National Capital’s Mayor, and the AAP’s Aaley Mohammed Iqbal will also continue to hold the office of the Deputy Mayor for a second consecutive term after winning the contest unopposed.
Presiding officer Mukesh Goel declared that AAP candidate Shelly Oberoi is the Capital’s next Mayor. Following her unopposed re-election, Mayor Shelly Oberoi adjourned the House till May 2, noting that the proposals that were to be tabled in today’s House meeting will be taken up in the next meeting.
Commenting on its decision to withdraw from the contest, the Delhi BJP noted that the AAP was unwilling to help constitute the MCD’s standing committee, adding that it has affected the functioning of the civic body. Oberoi and Aaley were elected the mayor and deputy mayor on February 22 after three attempts to conduct the exercise were disrupted due to clashes between AAP and BJP councillors. Ms. Oberoi then had won by a margin of 34 votes and Aaley by 31 votes.
The clashes were triggered by the then presiding officer and BJP councillor Satya Sharma’s announcement that the 10 aldermen, nominated by the Lieutenant-Governor, will be allowed to vote in the mayoral polls. The decision was contrary to the provisions of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act and subsequently struck down by the Supreme Court.
At the end of each financial year, the MCD elects a new Mayor and Deputy Mayor. The Mayor’s office is reserved for women candidates in the first year and for scheduled caste candidates in the third year.
Soon after the mayoral elections were over and he MCD adjourned, Patra brought the charge against Kejriwal. He also accused the media, without producing any evidence, that Kejriwal had offered ₹ 20 to 50 crore to media houses to suppress the story about the renovation of his house but they had ignored his offer.
He cited documents that showed that Kejriwal’s residence had been fitted with expensive marble from Vietnam, pre-fabricated wooden walls and curtains that cost lakhs of rupees each. One curtain alone cost more than ₹ 7.94 lakh, he claimed. “This is the story of a shameless king,” Patra said at a news conference.
He contrasted Kejriwal’s lavish spending with his earlier speeches in which he had criticised politicians for living in ostentatious houses and enjoying other facilities at public expense. He had also claimed that he was content with a four- or five-room house and did not need a bigger one.
Patra asked Kejriwal to address a news conference and answer all questions about his residence renovation in the same fashion that the AAP leader had asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to come clean on doubts about his educational qualifications.
Kejriwal did not immediately respond to the allegations. His party, which has near-daily run-ins with the BJP, accused it of hiding the condition of the house Kejriwal was allotted and posted videos showing the dilapidated condition of the Chief Minister’s home before renovation.
“Rs 80 crore was spent on the 3-hour visit of friend Donald Trump. The Chief Ministers of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh take aircraft worth ₹ 200 crore for themselves. No channel has the guts to debate this,” AAP spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar tweeted.
“Arvind Kejriwal was allotted a bungalow built in 1942, smaller than 1 acre, whose roof fell thrice. Once the roof of his parents’ room fell down and once where they held Janata Durbar. The painting/repair of the Lieutenant Governor’s bungalow spread over 6 acres is more than the cost of building a house for the Chief Minister of Delhi,” she said.
Targeting Lieutenant Governor, the representative of the BJP-led government at the centre to the capital’s administration, Ms Kakkar said, “Sir BJP’s media is saying that Arvind Kejriwal ji has built a palace worth 45 crores for himself. You take this palace, and give your poor house to Arvind ji so that the debate can take place on public issues.”
AAP leader Sanjay Singh said the controversy had been stoked to distract people from real issues. “The Prime Minister, who calls himself a fakir, is getting a house built for himself with ₹ 500 crore. ₹ 90 crore was spent in renovating the house where he is living now,” he said.
Sanjay Singh said there had been three incidents in the 80-year-old house allotted to Kejriwal after which the PWD recommended rebuilding the house. “The roof of the room where Kejriwal’s parents were staying caved in, then the same thing happened in Kejriwal’s room and the room where Kejriwal meets people,” Sanjay Singh said claiming that only the cost of repairing LG’s house was ₹15 crore.
Responding to Patra’s charge that Kejriwal was spending the money to renovate his house when Delhi people were dying in Covid, Singh said, “I saw him on the verge of tears today. He may have forgotten that during Corona, PM Modi was campaigning in West Bengal.” “These are not issues. We all know that these are to divert attention from issues like Adani, Satyapal Malik,” the AAP leader said. AAP MLA Naresh Balyan tweeted a video of Kejriwal’s bungalow (before it was renovated) and asked which chief minister stays in such a condition.
Patra called Kejriwal ‘maharaj’ and said, “Remember that this Maharaj who vowed to not take extra security, red light car, big bungalow. I can show you the video where he said he did not need any new residence.”
“There are different stories of the curtains, tiles, fittings etc. There are orders for 23 curtains — the costliest being ₹8 lakh and the cheapest being ₹3 lakh. I am feeling strange that I am doing a press conference on curtains. And remember, his MLAs came in autorickshaws during the oath-taking saying that they don’t have cars,” Patra said.
“Marble has been brought from Vietnam on a special order and so far marbles worth ₹1 crore 15 lakh have been fitted. Around ₹5 crores have been spent for pre-fabricated wooden walls like kings,” Patra added.