Before Delhi elections, former CM Arvind Kejriwal’s house is again in the news. For 4 days, BJP has been accusing Kejriwal of building ‘Sheeshmahal’. PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have also targeted Kejriwal over ‘Sheesh Mahal’. In response, Kejriwal
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In today’s explainer, we will know what is the whole matter related to ‘Sheesh Mahal’, how it was revealed and whether there really is any ‘Sheesh Mahal’…
Question-1: What did PM Modi and BJP say about Sheeshmahal?
answer: Understand the ‘Sheeshmahal’ controversy in sequence…
3 January: PM Narendra Modi mentioned Sheesh Mahal at an event in Ashok Vihar, Delhi. PM Modi said, ‘I too could have built a glass palace, but my dream was that the countrymen should get permanent houses. The country knows that Modi never built a house for himself.
4 December: BJP’s Delhi unit released a poster showing Arvind Kejriwal as ‘Delhi ka Raja Babu’. Written on the poster – AAP Presents Sheeshmahal worth crores. Even before this, BJP had released three more posters targeting Kejriwal.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah targeted Kejriwal at an event in New Delhi. He said,
When Kejriwal got a chance to work on the infrastructure of Delhi, he started building his own building. Kejriwal built a glass palace worth Rs 45 crore in 50 thousand yards.
5 January: PM Modi again targeted Kejriwal regarding Sheesh Mahal in a meeting organized in Japanese Park in Delhi. Without taking names, Modi said, ‘When Delhi was struggling with Covid-19, his focus was on building Sheeshmahal.’
On January 5, Modi once again described the AAP government in Delhi as AAP-DA government.
Question-2: Which house of Kejriwal is BJP linking with ‘Sheeshmahal’?
answer: BJP has called the CM House built at 6, Flag Road in Delhi as Sheeshmahal. This is the official residence of the Chief Minister of Delhi, where former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal lived from 2015 to 2024. BJP alleged that Arvind Kejriwal spent Rs 45 crore for renovation of the Chief Minister’s residence while he was the CM.
Question-3: What is ‘Sheeshmahal’ which was made luxurious by investing Rs. 45 crores?
answer: On 9 December 2024, BJP released a video, which showed the luxurious interior of Delhi’s CM House. BJP taunted Kejriwal, ‘He used to say that he will not take a government house, but made a 7 star resort to live in.’
BJP alleges that Kejriwal converted the house into a 7 star resort in the name of renovation.
Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva has demanded that Kejriwal should tell the people of Delhi with what right he spent about Rs 45 crore on the decoration of his bungalow. This was the time when public development works were stopped due to Covid.
Question-4: Where did Rs 45 crore come from to spend on ‘Sheeshmahal’?
answer: The case of ‘Sheeshmahal’ came to light for the first time in May 2023. When Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena wrote a letter to CBI Director Praveen Sood and entrusted him with the task of investigating the CM House renovation case.
CBI filed a report in this case in September 2023. It was alleged that former Delhi CM Kejriwal had spent about Rs 45 crore on the CM residence during the Covid period. This money was taken from the government treasury.
Earlier, Delhi BJP had claimed quoting the government report that a total of Rs 44.78 crore has been spent for the renovation of Delhi’s CM House. Actually Rs 43.70 crore was released for this. In this, Rs 11.30 crore was spent on interior design and decoration alone. Then money was released for Kejriwal’s bungalow in 6 installments between September 2020 and June 2022.
According to media reports, in August 2024, the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) had suspended three engineers for wasteful expenditure on CM House. On this, AAP had called CPWD a ‘witch-hunt’.
Question-5: ‘Castle of glass’ What did Kejriwal say on the controversy?
answer: On January 3, Arvind Kejriwal hit back at PM Modi’s Sheesh Mahal statement and said, ‘The person who builds a house worth Rs 2,700 crore for himself, who travels in an airplane worth Rs 8,400 crore, who wears a suit worth Rs 10 lakh, Yes, the talk about Sheeshmahal does not suit his mouth. I do not do politics of personal allegations or abuses.
Kejriwal said that there are more than 4 lakh slums and 15 lakh people homeless across the country. Why does PM Modi not pay attention to these issues? He has built only 1,700 houses in 5 years. Criticizing BJP’s manifesto, Kejriwal claimed that PM Modi’s new 5-year term will slow down development work by 200 years.
On January 4, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal held a press conference. He said- These people want to win elections only by abusing.
Question 6: What? ‘Castle of glass’ Can it become a big issue in Delhi elections?
answer: Political expert Rashid Kidwai believes that ‘Sheeshmahal’ can become a big issue in Delhi elections. He says, ‘The biggest reason for Sheesh Mahal becoming a big issue in Delhi elections is the image of Arvind Kejriwal. In fact, when he joined politics in 2013, he had taken an oath not to buy a government car or bungalow. Had promised to start a new kind of politics. After this, he started being accused of liquor scam and building Sheeshmahal. All this can cause significant damage to his political image.
Rashid Kidwai explains, ‘The lifestyle of any politician holds great importance among his supporters. Kejriwal’s image among the public is one of simplicity. The public elected Kejriwal, wearing a muffler around his neck and plain clothes, as the Chief Minister of Delhi. Now allegations started being made that there was a ‘gold toilet seat’ in his house. Yet Kejriwal did not try to prove these allegations false.
Election analyst Amitabh Tiwari says,
In Delhi Assembly elections, 30% voters vote for Aam Aadmi Party, but in Lok Sabha elections, 15% voters go to BJP and 15% voters go to Congress. Such voters are called floating voters.
Floating voters are the biggest vote bank of AAP. These voters are emotionally attached to their politicians. Due to continuous allegations against Kejriwal, the attitude of such voters may change, because BJP is trying to corner AAP from all sides. AAP also lacks development issues in this election.
Question-7: Who lives in ‘Sheeshmahal’ these days and where is Kejriwal staying?
answer: Now Delhi CM Atishi is living in a bungalow located at 6, Flagship Road. Actually, after resigning from the post of Chief Minister, Kejriwal left the Delhi CM residence on 4 October 2024. Now Kejriwal is staying at the official residence of AAP Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Kumar Mittal, which is at 5, Ferozshah Road.
Actually, unlike other states, MLAs are not given bungalows to live in the Delhi Assembly. Nor was Kejriwal given any bungalow as a former CM. After resignation, Kejriwal had the options of living in his ancestral, private or rented house. For this, no separate allowance was given to them, because the housing allowance is included in the total amount given per month. Kejriwal has no house in Delhi.
Before becoming the Chief Minister of Delhi for the first time in December 2013, Kejriwal lived in Kaushambi area of Ghaziabad. As Chief Minister, he lived in a house located in Tilak Lane in Central Delhi. When Aam Aadmi Party got majority in February 2015, he moved to a residence at 6, Flagstaff Road in Civil Lines area of North Delhi.
Arvind Kejriwal, his wife and parents while leaving CM House on October 4, 2024.
Question-8: Can a Chief Minister make changes in the CM House as per his wish?
answer: According to constitutional expert and former principal secretary of Madhya Pradesh Assembly Bhagwandev Israni, the main responsibility for the renovation of the Chief Minister’s residence rests with the Public Works Department (PWD). This department comes under the state government. Delhi has got the status of special state, hence there is CPWD department there. PWD has the responsibility of maintenance, repair, renovation and construction of government buildings.
The budget for the renovation of CM House is released by the Finance Department. For this, permission to spend is taken from the government treasury. The finance department itself maintains the details of all the renovation expenses.
Rashid Kidwai says that there is no law or rule for the renovation of the Chief Minister’s residence in the country. Chief Ministers of all states have the freedom to renovate their houses as per their lifestyle. Some people live very simply, while some people like luxury. For this reason, when a new Chief Minister becomes in any state, he can get the government house renovated and decorated as per his choice.
Question-9: Is there really any ‘Sheeshmahal’ built in India?
answer: Sheeshmahal means a palace made of glass. That is, a palace whose walls have mirrors. There are two famous Sheesh Mahals in India, which are located in Jaipur and Delhi.
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Research Collaboration- Ayush Aggarwal
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