Punjab CM Mann slams BJP over 'Sheesh Mahal' allegations, offers to show real 'palaces'

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday hit back at BJP for terming an official accommodation of the state government as a “Sheesh Mahal”.

In a video message, the CM said the house that BJP is claiming is a “Sheesh Mahal” made for AAP national president Arvind Kejriwal is the same house that serves as an official residence for guests of the Punjab CM.

“It is the same house that a Pakistani journalist and friend of Capt Amarinder Singh stayed in when he was the CM, but the BJP never criticised it then,” Mann said.

Related news: Sheesh Mahal 2.0: BJP flags Kejriwal’s ‘7-star’ Chandigarh bungalow

Mann added that no special renovation has been made to the house, and it is similar to others where Punjab and Haryana ministers reside.

However, he offered to provide the addresses of real “Sheesh Mahals” belonging to Capt Amarinder Singh, now a BJP leader, and Sukhvilas of Sukhbir Badal.

Mann insisted that BJP was making false allegations because it has no agenda for Punjab. “They are disturbed by the huge support AAP is getting in political rallies in Punjab,” he said.

“People of Delhi removed Kejriwal from his ‘Sheesh Mahal’ in the capital but the mindset has not changed. A ‘Sheesh Mahal 2.0’ is being made in Punjab using taxpayers’ money under the chief minister’s quota because Kejriwal is the super CM of Punjab,” BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla charged in a video message.

With other BJP leaders, including those from Punjab, mounting an attack on AAP over the issue, Mann on Saturday launched a fierce counter attack.

In a video message, Mann said he strongly condemns the “false” and “dirty propaganda”, which BJP is indulging in. He claimed the saffron party has no agenda for Punjab, and that is why it was venting its frustration in this way because the people of the state rejected them in the 2022 election.

Mann also accused BJP of trying to divert people’s attention because “AAP is spreading its wings in Gujarat”.

“BJP is indulging in a misleading and dirty propaganda that the Punjab government has built a ‘Sheesh Mahal’ in Chandigarh. It is claimed that House No. 50 in Chandigarh’s Sector 2 is a ‘Sheesh Mahal’ where Kejriwal lives.

“Chandigarh is a Union territory which is directly under the Centre. Show me one letter that says we have allotted a house to Arvind Kejriwal,” Mann said.

“I want to make it very clear that the day I took oath (as Chief Minister) on March 16, 2022, government houses were allotted to the Chief Minister and other ministers. Kothi No. 45 in Sector 2 is the Chief Minister’s official residence.

“Similarly, Kothi No. 50 in Sector 2, about which they (BJP) are making misleading claims, is mentioned as the camp office of the Chief Minister. It is part of my house. It is a camp office/guest house,” he said.

The Chief Minister said that guests and other dignitaries from around the country come and meet him at the camp office where some of them also stay.

“I also hold meetings there sometimes. Will BJP people call the Punjab CM’s camp office ‘Sheesh Mahal’,” he asked.

Stating that even a Haryana minister has a similar government accommodation near his house, Mann wondered if BJP will call it a ‘Sheesh Mahal’ as well.

Calling himself a man from an ordinary background, Mann said when such a person lives at a government accommodation allotted to the chief minister, they (BJP) call it “Sheesh Mahal”.

“We are elected by people and these are people’s homes. We meet scores of people in these houses. But BJP claims my guests live in ‘Sheesh Mahal’. They should stop such dirty propaganda,” the CM said.

“Those living in Sheesh Mahals are your leaders,” he told BJP. Man also said that Punjab Chief Minister’s official residence in Delhi is called Kapurthala House, which BJP may now call ‘Sheesh Mahal’ as well.

The CM also alleged that Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu, the maternal grandson of former Punjab chief minister late Beant Singh, is holding on to a government house near Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh.

Calling that house a ‘Sheesh Mahal’, Mann alleged, “Bittu is illegally occupying that house which comes from Punjab Chief Minister’s pool. He is not vacating it despite the Punjab Government writing multiple letters in this regard… We have to make it a guest house.

“The house was allotted in the name of Beant Singh’s son Tej Prakash on the grounds that the family was then under threat… However, Bittu is occupying it even today with no such threat perception.”

He also claimed that despite being a national party, AAP has not even been allotted space in Chandigarh for a party office.

“But if you see in Delhi, BJP has built an 11-star ‘Sheesh Mahal’ (as its party office),” he claimed. — with PTI