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Atishi claims Centre 'snatched away' her official house; BJP says 'Delhi CM' lying
Delhi chief minister Atishi accused the Centre of cancelling the allotment of the CM residence through a letter
Delhi chief minister Atishi on Tuesday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre evicted her out of the official chief minister's residence, a day before the Election Commission announced the schedule for the assembly elections in the capital.
“The schedule for Delhi elections was announced today. Last night, the BJP-led central government, for the second time in three months, threw me out of my official residence, which has been allotted to me as being the CM. They cancelled the allotment of the CM residence through a letter and snatched away the residence from an elected CM of an elected govt,” PTI quoted Atishi as saying.
Delhi assembly election schedule announcement Live updates
Continuing her attack on the BJP, the chief minister added,"They did the same thing three months back. When I was elected as the CM, the belongings of me and my family were thrown on the streets. BJP thinks they will stop our work by snatching our houses, abusing us and making below-the-belt remarks about our families. But, I want to tell people of Delhi that the work won't stop even if they take away our home."
Atishi's allegations were supported by her cabinet colleague Saurabh Bharadwaj, who said,"BJP doesn’t care to work for the people of Delhi. They don’t care if children are getting education, or if people are getting electricity. All they do is to do something against AAP leaders.
Today, BJP has done something that we couldn’t think of. BJP has once again removed Delhi CM Atishi’s belongings from his official residence. You all must remember when they did it earlier as well. I don't think this would have happened anywhere in the world before.”
BJP responds to Atishi's charges
BJP's IT cell head Amit Malviya rejected Atishi's charges, saying,"Delhi Chief Minister Atishi Marlena is LYING. She was allotted SheeshMahal on 11-Oct-2024. She hasn’t still occupied it because she doesn’t want to offend Arvind Kejriwal. Hence, the allotment was withdrawn and two more bungalows have been offered to her, instead."
Malviya shared a purported letter issued by the Delhi government's Public Works Department which said,"Under these circumstances and aforesaid reasons, the offer of allotment of Bungalow No. 6, Flag Staff Road, issued to Ms. Atishi, Hon'ble Chief Minister, Delhi vide letter no F.A(6 Flag Staff Road)PWD&H/2024/1472-73 dated 11-10-2024 by Public Works Department Secretariat, Govt. of NCT of Delhi stands withdrawn, with immediate effect.
In the light of withdrawal of offer letter dated 11.10.2024, it is further proposed by PWD to offer two bungalows viz bungalow No. 2 at 8 Raj Niwas Lane, Civil Lines, New Delhi & bungalow No. 115 at Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi to choose one, for which a separate 'offer letter' will be issued to Ms. Atishi, Hon'ble Chief Minister, Delhi."
Delhi assembly election schedule announced
The Election Commission on Tuesday announced that the assembly election in Delhi will be held in a single phase on February 5, and result will be declared on February 8.
"It is a single-phase election… We have deliberately kept polling on a Wednesday so more people come out to vote… like we did in Maharashtra," CEC Rajiv Kumar said at a press conference.
(With PTI inputs)
