Chandigarh, Nov 1 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Saturday slammed the BJP for terming an official accommodation of the government in Chandigarh as a “Sheesh Mahal” for AAP’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal.
In a video message, the Chief Minister said the house that the BJP is claiming is a “Sheesh Mahal” made for 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 Chief Minister, but the BJP never criticised it then, ” Mann asked.
The Chief Minister clarified that no special renovation has been made in 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, a BJP leader, and Sukhvilas of Sukhbir Badal, President of the Shiromani Akali Dal.
He said the BJP is 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.
Sheesh Mahal is originally a political term used by the BJP to refer to Kejriwal's erstwhile Chief Minister's residence at 6 Flag Staff Road in north Delhi, which it claimed was no less than a palace.
The Chief Minister’s assertions come a day after the Punjab BJP’s working President Ashwani Sharma demanded an explanation from him over reports that a government bungalow in Sector 2 in Chandigarh, allotted under his CM quota and has been renovated as a new “Sheesh Mahal” for former Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal.
Sharma wrote in a tweet that the matter “is no longer limited to Punjab alone but is echoing in Delhi as well”. After Aam Aadmi Party’s own Rajya Sabha member Swati Maliwal revealed this issue, BJP leader Sharma directly targeted Chief Minister Mann over the matter.
On social media platform X, Sharma wrote, “Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann-ji, is it true that the Sector 2 bungalow allotted to you under your CM quota has been renovated as a new ‘Sheesh Mahal’ for Arvind Kejriwal? The people of Punjab deserve to know the truth about this.”
Legislator Sharma alleged that just as Kejriwal had built his “Sheesh Mahal” in Delhi by spending crores of rupees from public funds, a similar picture now seems to be emerging in Punjab. He said, “This is an attempt for personal luxury at the expense of public money, and Bhagwant Mann must clarify the matter”.
Calling it Sheesh Mahal 2.0, Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva also launched a scathing attack on Kejriwal for his reported possession of a "palatial" bungalow of the Punjab government. "You need to give answers, Arvind Kejriwal. What is this Sheesh Mahal 2.0? Are you now planning to loot Punjab on the lines you did in Delhi?" Sachdeva asked in a video message.
He said Kejriwal needs to clarify if the Sheesh Mahal model has now turned its focus on Punjab, which is the pride of the nation, for corruption and loot.
"I have come to know that Kejriwal has occupied a multi-crore rupee bungalow in Punjab, which is even costlier than the one he built in Delhi, " the Delhi BJP Chief added.
Sachdeva also questioned the quota under which he was given the two-acre, seven-star bungalow in Chandigarh's Sector-2.