BJP, AAP exchange barbs as CM house row continues

The latest flashpoint for the two parties stems from documents that revealed that the Delhi government allegedly spent nearly ₹45 crore on the house’s refurbishing between 2020 and 2022

New Delhi

Police attempt to disperse Delhi BJP leaders during the latter's protest outside CM Arvind Kejriwal's official residence in New Delhi on Wednesday. (PTI)

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday exchanged barbs over the refurbishment of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s official residence for a second day in a row.

The latest flashpoint for the two parties stems from documents that revealed that the Delhi government allegedly spent nearly ₹45 crore on the house’s refurbishing between 2020 and 2022.

The BJP claimed that Kejriwal, in a 2013 affidavit, had said that he will “live in a simple house like a common man” .

Hitting back, the AAP said that the refurbishing was necessitated owing to the “dilapidated condition” of the house, and “three serious incidents of roof collapse after which the Public Works Department (PWD) recommended rebuilding the CM’s residence”.

The BJP said the AAP renovated the CM house “at a time when there was an outcry in Delhi due to the Covid pandemic”.

Addressing a press conference, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra said, “In 2013, Arvind Kejriwal signed an affidavit and vowed on oath that he will not take unnecessary security, red beacon vehicles, will not accept big bungalow and will live in a simple house like a common man…but, according to media reports, the official residence of CM Arvind Kejriwal has been renovated with ₹45 crore with superior quality marbles, fittings, lights, etc.,” Patra said, showing the documents on the expenditure incurred on Kejriwal’s residence.

Virendra Sachdeva, the party’s Delhi unit chief, also claimed that the expenditure on the renovation of Kejriwal’s official residence involved violation of government financial rules (GFRs), and alleged connivance between the then PWD ministers Satyendar Jain and Manish Sisodia and the chief engineers of the department.

Responding to the allegations of spending money on renovations during the pandemic, the AAP sought to compare these expenses with those incurred by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Sanjay Singh, the party’s Rajya Sabha MP, said that “Modi who claims to be a poor man is constructing a residence for himself at ₹500 crore, he purchased plane for himself at ₹8,400 crore during Covid”.

He also alluded to the Prime Minister’s campaigning in West Bengal ahead of assembly elections in that state, and accused him of “spreading coronavirus”.

Singh said the renovation was necessitated as the CM’s residence was constructed 80 years ago. “One roof of the room where Kejriwal’s parents were staying caved in, then the same thing happened in Kejriwal’s room, and in another room where Kejriwal meets people,” said Singh.

“We all know that these issues have been raised to divert attention from issues like Adani and Pulwama,” he added.

The details of the documents related to the spends were released on Tuesday, and showed that the Delhi government spent around ₹44.78 crore refurbishing Kejriwal’s official residence, with the money going on imported marble, plush interiors, electrical fixtures, and high-end kitchen equipment.

HT has seen a copy of the documents.

The documents related to the expenditure and work orders show the changes made in the chief minister’s residence and office located at Civil Lines: ₹11.3 crore was spent on interior decorations; ₹6 crore on imported marble from Vietnam; ₹1 crore for interior design consultancy; ₹5.43 crore went into electrical, automatic smart lighting and firefighting systems; ₹1.1 crore on appliances in the kitchen, including a built-in barbecue charcoal grill; and ₹1 crore on wooden flooring.

On Wednesday, a group of Delhi BJP leaders, including Kuljeet Chahal, former Union minister Vijay Goel and others protested outside CM’s residence over the issue. Many leaders were later detained by Delhi Police. “We want answers from Kejriwal over the extravagant spending. Unless he responds we will continue to raise a voice against the issue,” Chahal said.

Meanwhile, Sachdeva alleged that the Delhi government “did not issue a single tender for the works, but multiple tenders were issued to bypass the approval of the engineer in-chief and the PWD secretary.”

“Under the PWD work manual, there is a provision that any chief engineer can directly issue work order with tender for works of less than ₹10 crore in an emergency by taking urgent approval from the PWD minister. Using this provision, the government issued five tenders of work order worth ₹7.92 crore, ₹1.64 crore, ₹9.09 crore, ₹8.68 crore and ₹9.34 crore to bypass checks by top officials,” said Sachdeva, as he sought an investigation into the matter.

The AAP did not respond to these allegations.

PWD officials also did not respond to HT’s queries for comments.