The Kejri splurge

For once, the BJP and the Congress are on the same page. Their common rival in poll-bound Delhi is former CM Arvind Kejriwal, who is under fire for having renovated his official residence at a cost of at least Rs 33 crore. According to an audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, the expenditure quadrupled — the initial estimate was Rs 7.91 crore — by the time the work was completed in 2022. Moreover, the renovation was done in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, a turbulent period during which many development projects were stalled and the state government was supposed to be protecting Delhi residents from the deadly virus. Now that’s what you call a classic case of misplaced priorities.

The damning report has dented Kejriwal’s carefully constructed ‘aam aadmi’ image, giving the BJP and the Congress ample fodder to target the ruling AAP, which is eyeing a hat-trick in the upcoming Assembly elections. Splurging Rs 96 lakh on curtains and Rs 66.9 lakh on marble stone for walls, and that too at a time when people were falling ill or dying, is simply unacceptable. Kejriwal, who has projected himself as a commoner CM from the outset, has a lot of explaining to do. The extravagance was avoidable, to say the least.

The CAG report has also put the Public Works Department on a sticky wicket, citing irregularities in the remodelling of the ground-floor accommodation and the construction of an additional storey. A fair and thorough probe is needed to establish the complicity of officials. As of now, the case has become a hot-button poll issue in the Capital. At stake is the credibility of AAP, whose top leaders have been accused of corruption by Central agencies. The party has its work cut out to regain the trust of voters, who gave it a landslide mandate in 2015 and 2020.