Kejriwal staying at camp office as guest: CM junks BJP’s ‘Sheesh Mahal’ jibe

Faced with BJP allegations of offering “Sheesh Mahal 2.0” to former Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal ahead of the Tarn Taran bypoll, Punjab CM and party campaigner-in-chief Bhagwant Mann today clarified that the accommodation in question was his camp office-cum-guest house, which was allotted as per norms.

Launching a scathing attack on the BJP, CM Mann asked the saffron party to stop its “false” and “dirty” propaganda. He went a step further and accused the BJP of circulating fake videos, purportedly of him, on the social media.

The allegations, along with the arrest of DIG Harcharan Singh Bhullar over bribery charges, come at a time when AAP is focussing on retaining the Tarn Taran constituency, where voting is slated for November 11.

Sources in the party say considering the political fallout of the house controversy, AAP poll strategists are planning to make party’s Delhi leaders take a backseat during campaigning in Tarn Taran.

“The House No. 50, Sector 2, Chandigarh, was allotted to me as camp office-cum-guest house on March 16, 2022 — the day my government came to power. I hold official meetings in this camp office and my guests come and stay here. Kejriwal sometimes stays in a guest house in Mohali and sometimes here. How is this a ‘Sheesh Mahal’?” said Mann in a video message on social media.

After AAP rebel and Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal on Friday raised the issue of the house being allotted to Kejriwal despite him being an MLA or a minister in Punjab, BJP leaders in the state as well as at the Centre alleged that a “seven-star Sheesh Mahal accommodation” had been provided to the former Delhi CM.

Mann questioned the rationale behind terming the house a “Sheesh Mahal” when it had the same building plan, outer aspect and open spaces as other government houses in its vicinity, one of which was occupied by a Haryana minister from the BJP.

“If you want to see Sheesh Mahal, go to Siswan where BJP leader Capt Amarinder Singh has created one for himself. I can even take you to Sukhvilas (a five-star hotel built by SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal) to show what a Sheesh Mahal looks like,” he said.

Mann also targeted Union Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu, saying his family had for decades occupied a Sector 5 government house illegally, citing threat to life. “Now the police have said that there is no threat to the family members of former CM Beant Singh. We have sent numerous reminders to the Punjab Governor to get the house vacated, but to no avail,” said Mann.

The CM went on to accuse the Badals of not staying in the official accommodation as they considered it “not up to their standards”. “But now that common people like us are staying in the official accommodation, they have termed it Sheesh Mahal,” Mann said, adding that in Delhi, he shared the Kapurthala House — the Punjab CM’s official residence — with the Governor.