BJP: Next CM will not live in ‘Sheesh Mahal’

In the days leading up to the elections, the BJP used allegations about irregularities in the renovations of the bungalow as one of its major flashpoints.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday said that the next Delhi chief minister will not live in “Sheesh Mahal” — a satirical name the party uses for the 6, Flag Staff Road bungalow where Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal stayed during his tenure as CM.

The 6, Flag Staff Road bungalow that Arvind Kejriwal used as his official residence when he was chief minister of Delhi (HT Photo)

The BJP won 48 seats in the recent Delhi assembly polls, the results of which were announced on February 8, ousting the AAP, which could win only 22. In the days leading up to the elections, the BJP used allegations about irregularities in the renovations of the bungalow as one of its major flashpoints.

Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said the government will select a new residence for the CM after the next government takes oath, and the CM is sworn in.

“The ‘Sheesh Mahal’ is a symbol of Arvind Kejriwal’s years of corruption, which caused a lot of suffering to the people of Delhi. The BJP CM will not stay in the ‘Sheesh Mahal’. CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation] is already probing the corruption by Kejriwal in the renovation of the ‘Sheesh Mahal’, which is currently sealed. The BJP chief minister will stay in a different place which will be selected after the formation of the government,” Sachdeva told HT.

BJP leaders, along with Public Works Department (PWD) officials, have been doing recces of properties at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg in central Delhi to finalise a residence for the chief minister, people aware of the matter said.

It must be noted that this is the same road where the BJP’s headquarters are located.

CBI registered a preliminary inquiry -- on the basis of a report submitted by the then Delhi chief secretary Naresh Kumar -- into alleged irregularities in the renovation of the 6, Flag Staff Road bungalow in September 2023. Meanwhile, the AAP, in the past, has maintained that the renovation was necessitated because the bungalow was constructed 80 years ago and there had been three incidents of roof collapse.

The bungalow belongs to PWD. Delhi does not have a dedicated CM’s bungalow and CMs in the past have stayed in different bungalows. Kejriwal was the only CM to stay in 6, Flag Staff Road bungalow.

BJP MLA from Rohini Vijender Gupta on Monday wrote to lieutenant governor VK Saxena, seeking immediate action against the alleged illegal construction and violations of rules at 6, Flag Staff Road.

Gupta claimed that the bungalow’s area was expanded to encroach upon adjacent government properties, and demanded that the property be restored to its original condition. “I have demanded immediate removal of these encroachments and called for the separation of 8A and 8B Flag Staff Road from the chief minister residence complex,” Gupta told HT.