Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia get new addresses in Delhi
Kejriwal will shift into AAP Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Mittal’s official house, and Sisodia will move into AP Rajya Sabha MP Harbhajan Singh’s house.
The Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) two top leaders, former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his former deputy Manish Sisodia, are moving to new homes in Lutyens Delhi assigned to the party’s Rajya Sabha members, in a major shift in the city’s power corridors that comes weeks after the two were released from prison.
Kejriwal, who resigned as Delhi chief minister on September 17, will move out of his controversy-ridden 6, Flag Staff Road Bungalow and move into 5, Firoz Shah Road, a central government property allotted to AAP MP Ashok Mittal, according to officials in the AAP.
Sisodia, meanwhile, on Thursday moved from AB-17 Mathura Road to 32, Rajendra Prasad Road near India Gate, a central government property allotted to another of the party’s Rajya Sabha MPs, Harbhajan Singh, the party said.
He was allotted the Mathura Road bungalow in 2015, when he took charge as Delhi’s deputy chief minister. It was then transferred to then AAP minister and current chief minister Atishi after Sisodia was jailed in 2022. However, his family continued to live there till Thursday.
The movements come on the heels of Sisodia’s release from prison on August 9 and Kejriwal’s on September 13.
The AAP on Wednesday said that Kejriwal would move out of the Flag Staff Road home, which has been mired in controversy, following the BJP’s accusations that he spent ₹45 crore for renovating the house.
Ashok Mittal thanked Kejriwal for choosing to stay in his house. “When Arvind Kejriwal resigned as the CM of Delhi a few days ago, I came to know that he had no place of his to stay in. I invited him to be my guest at my Delhi residence, and it brings me great joy that he accepted… I am happy that he will stay with me, and I will get the opportunity to learn from him,” Mittal said in a video statement.
Kejriwal has been New Delhi MLA since 2013.
Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said it was an “irony” that Kejriwal did not own a house in the city he has governed for nearly a decade. “It is such an irony that a person who was an Indian Revenue Services officer, whose wife was also an IRS officer, remained the CM for 10 years but does not have a house of his own in Delhi. He will stay with someone else,” he said.
SK Sharma, a constitutional expert and a former secretary of Lok Sabha and Delhi assembly, said an MP who has been allotted a government bungalow can allow anyone to stay in the house as a guest, but cannot transfer the allotment to the guest’s name. “Regardless of who stays in the bungalow, the liabilities of the bungalow such as rent will continue to be on the official allottee,” said Sharma.
A senior official of PWD – which maintains the Flag Staff Road bungalow – said it has not yet held internal discussion on the future of the house. “The decision about its allotment will be taken in due course after the bungalow is surrendered to PWD,” said the official. A separate PWD official, however, said that 6, Flag Staff Road may not be allotted to anyone due to a probe into its renovation.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said AAP leaders are engaging in publicity on the changing of their houses. “They do not hold any position in the government which is why they need to vacate the houses allotted to them. They should do it without the propaganda and drama over it,” said Kapoor.