"Every Law Broken": BJP Gets Fresh 'Sheesh Mahal' Ammo After Centre Audit

A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on the expenses made in renovating the Delhi Chief Minister's residence has given the BJP fresh ammo to attack the ruling AAP and its leader Arvind Kejriwal as the national capital preps for the Assembly polls.

The CAG probe, according to news reports, found that the preliminary estimate for the renovation was Rs 7.91 crore. This went up to 8.62 crore when work was awarded in 2020. But by the time the Public Works Department completed the job in 2022, the cost had jumped to Rs 33.66 crore.

According to a report in The Indian Express, former CAG Girish Chandra Murmu signed off on this report just a week before he left office in November.

Addressing the media today, Delhi BJP chief Virendraa Sachdeva said the sum of Rs 33.66 crore was "just a figure" and the actual renovation cost was much higher.

"If we want to estimate the actual cost of this bungalow, it will require examining the accounts of various departments and adding the inventory prepared by PWD on October 11, 2024. We will then find that Arvind Kejriwal's 'Sheesh Mahal' was illegally constructed and decorated at a cost of approximately Rs 75 to 80 crore," he said.

The BJP has used the 'Sheesh Mahal' expression to refer to the renovated Chief Minister's bungalow. The Opposition party has accused AAP and Mr Kejriwal of large-scale corruption in the renovation exercise, a charge AAP has trashed.

The CAG report has flagged "doubtful" selection of consultants, frequent revision of estimates and going beyond approvals to include items of higher specifications. The report also raised questions on the PWD's tender process to identify contractors for the project.

"The first clear fact from the CAG report about the "Sheesh Mahal" is that under the Arvind Kejriwal government, the PWD did not act as a government agency but as a personal institution for Chief Minister Kejriwal," the Delhi BJP chief said.

"It is important to note that the way PWD officials broke every rule and law to build this 'Sheesh Mahal' makes it clear that this is a case of corruption with a "give and take" situation - the Chief Minister and the concerned ministers must have also turned a blind eye to the many corrupt activities of the officials," Mr Sachdeva added.

The BJP also said PWD declared it an emergency project and issued the work order on September 1, 2020. "This was during the COVID-19 pandemic, when people were struggling and jobs were suspended," the BJP said, questioning the urgency.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to the CAG report and said, "You will be shocked to know that when Delhi residents were fighting Covid, wandering in search of oxygen and medicines, their (AAP) focus was on the building Sheesh Mahal."

Hitting back at the Prime Minister, Mr Kejriwal said the man who lives in a house worth Rs 2,700 crore, travels on an Rs 8,400 crore plane and wears a Rs 10 lakh suit must not talk about Sheesh Mahal. Mr Kejriwal has vacated the bungalow after he quit the Chief Minister's post, saying that he will return to the top job only after the "people's verdict" in the Assembly election due in February.