The Delhi CM does not have a designated residence. Going by procedure, outgoing CM Kejriwal was expected to relinquish the Civil Lines bungalow allotted to him and new CM Atishi would then be allotted an official home by the PWD.
The residence allotted to former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by the Public Works Department (PWD) has been at the centre of a political battle between the Aam Aadmi Party on one side and the BJP and office of the Lieutenant-Governor on the other. Now, by seemingly circumventing procedure and then crying foul, CM Atishi and the AAP have scored a spectacular own goal at a time when the party is especially embattled. It has performed poorly in Kejriwal’s home state of Haryana; and it can ill-afford missteps ahead of the Delhi assembly elections early next year. Given the swirl of allegations of indiscriminate spending around the CM residence, a party that has built its politics on the anti-corruption plank should have made efforts to stanch this controversy at the earliest.
The Delhi CM does not have a designated residence. Going by procedure, outgoing CM Kejriwal was expected to relinquish the Civil Lines bungalow allotted to him and new CM Atishi would then be allotted an official home by the PWD. Instead, she moved into the house vacated by her predecessor. Two days after she moved into the house, she was forced to vacate it. This has given the BJP more fodder to attack the AAP. Since last year, the residence has sparked controversy, with both Congress and BJP alleging irregularities in its renovation, a matter being probed by the Vigilance Department and the CBI. That Opposition leaders are being selectively targeted and investigative agencies weaponised against their leaders by the Centre is an allegation that has been made by non-BJP several parties. Many of AAP’s senior leaders were arrested and spent months in jail — including Kejriwal and former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia — on corruption charges. This, if nothing else, should have made AAP even more cautious about following the rules in letter and spirit.
The AAP has been in office in Delhi for nearly a decade. For much of that time, it has been at loggerheads with the L-G’s office over the latter’s interference in the functioning of Delhi’s elected government. This has taken a toll on the much-touted Delhi model of governance, focusing on the welfare needs of the middle class and the poor. But theatrics like Atishi not occupying the CM’s chair, even as Kejriwal goes to the people as part of his “agni-pariksha”, have also made the party seem like an immature one-man-show. With its complicity in making a mountain out of a mansion, it will only appear more like a party fumbling for a script.
