NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s official residence was built in 1942 and the roof had collapsed thrice, AAP said on Wednesday and accused the BJP of diverting attention from key issues by raising the matter of Rs 45 crore spent on the house.
Following the roof collapse incidents, the Public Works Department suggested a new house be built and this was done, Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said. “The house has been rebuilt at an expenditure of Rs 30 crore,” he said.
“Since yesterday, there have been attempts to divert attention from key issues such as the Pulwama attack and the Adani row by discussing the chief minister’s residence. It was an 80-year-old house constructed in 1942. There had been not one but three instances of the roof collapsing,” he said.
In one, the roof of the room Kejriwal’s parents stay in collapsed; in another, it was the chief minister’s bedroom; and in the third, the ceiling of the room he meets people in gave way, Singh said. The Rajya Sabha MP also pointed out that the lieutenant governor of Delhi had spent Rs 15 crore only on the repairs of his house, which was on six acres of land. In comparison, a new house was built for the Delhi CM on only one acre.
He pointed out that the country’s prime minister was getting his new house built at a cost of `500 crore. “Before moving into that house, Rs 90 crore is being spent only on the renovation of his existing house. The Rs 20,000 crore Central Vista project has inflated its cost to about Rs 23,000 crore so far, and the Prime Minister’s house is being built for Rs 500 crore,” he said.
The AAP leader also gave examples of spending by chief ministers in BJP-ruled states. For instance, former Gujarat chief minister Shri Vijay Rupani’s aircraft cost Rs 191 crore. Attacking PM Narendra Modi, he said that when people were dying due to the Covid pandemic, he was busy campaigning for the elections.
“During the Covid, when citizens were dying in hordes, the BJP government passed budget to buy an aircraft for himself worth Rs 8,400 crore. It is bizarre how the BJP lies in view of these details,” he said.
