BJP attacks Kejriwal with 'Sheeshmahal' video, AAP terms it 'smear campaign'

New Delhi: The BJP Tuesday sought to corner AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal in the run-up to the Delhi Assembly polls by releasing a video of his previous residence at 6 Flagstaff Road, describing it as a “Sheeshmahal” that symbolises “corruption”.

AAP lashed back, accusing the BJP of running a “smear campaign” to divert people’s attention from the “worsening” the law-and-order situation in the national capital. The Delhi Police is under the control of the Union government, presently led by the BJP.

The bungalow in question was occupied for over nine years by Arvind Kejriwal who vacated it after resigning as chief minister. After leaving the bungalow in the Civil Lines area, he shifted to the official accommodation of his party MP from Punjab at Ferozeshah Road in Lutyens’ Delhi.

The BJP’s Delhi unit president Virendra Sachdeva, while releasing the video of the reconstructed bungalow at 6 Flagstaff Road, alleged the AAP supremo kept the “seven-star resort-like ‘Sheeshmahal’ hidden from public gaze to portray himself as a victim”.

The video showed a well-equipped gym and top-of-the-range interiors and fittings. In a post on X, Sachdeva claimed crores of rupees were spent on “a gym, sauna room, jacuzzi, marble granite, lighting and fittings”.

“The money spent on Kejriwal’s Sheeshmahal could have been readied 34 EWS flats, 15 LIG flats, 150 CNG autos or 326 e-rickshaws for employment,” the Delhi BJP chief claimed in a statement.

The “irony” is that Kejriwal, who once claimed he would not accept official bungalows, vehicles or security, has now been exposed with the video showing his “opulent mansion”.

Hitting back, AAP said in a statement that ever since Kejriwal started raising the issue of Delhi’s “worsening” law and order, the BJP has tried to divert attention by raising the issue of the “official residence” of Delhi chief minister.

After Kejriwal vacated the Flagstaff Road bungalow, his successor Atishi tried to shift there as Delhi chief minister but left it after the Public Works Department said an inventory of the residence was not done.

“Arvind Kejriwal does not live in that house anymore. It has been more than three months since he vacated it. It is the official residence of the Delhi chief minister,” AAP said.

The ruling party in Delhi said that the people of Delhi were “living in fear and feeling unsafe in their homes” as the BJP-led government at the Centre “failed” in its most basic duty of ensuring public safety in the city.

“Under (Union Home Minister) Amit Shah’s watch, Delhi has become one of the world’s most dangerous cities, plagued by brazen daylight crimes,” it charged.

Instead of addressing this “crisis”, the BJP runs a “smear campaign” with its “Kejriwal Hatao” agenda, while Arvind Kejriwal remains focused on ‘Delhi Bachao’, the party asserted.