NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sambit Patra on Monday took a swipe at Aam Aadmi Party chief and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal over his official residence, which the party has repeatedly referred to as “Sheesh Mahal,” and said that the tender cost is higher than the estimated one making it a scam in the first step itself.
The ‘Sheesh Mahal’ controversy centres around allegations that Arvind Kejriwal spent crores of rupees renovating his official residence during the Covid-19 pandemic, a period when many public development projects were stalled.
The party has strongly refuted the allegations.
While addressing the presser, Patra said that the estimated cost for the construction of Delhi CM’s official residence was Rs 7.61 crore, however, the tender released by the government mentioned the amount as Rs 8.62 crore.
Talking about the “scam,” Patra said, “The CAG report says that on March 17, 2020, Delhi’s PWD gave a proposal of remodelling the 6 Flag Staff Road. The single-storey building will have to demolished and an additional new floor will be constructed. The proposal was accepted within a day. The estimated cost was Rs 7.61 crore, however, the tender released by the government mentioned the amount as Rs 8.62 crore. There was a scam in the first step itself.”
AAP national convenor Kejriwal, who resigned as chief minister in September this year, vacated the Flagstaff Road bungalow in Civil Lines on October 4.
‘Advertisement Baba,’ says Sambit Patra
In today’s presser, Patra called Kejriwal “Advertisment Baba” and claimed that the Delhi government spent Rs 54 crore for the “Business Blasters” scheme.
Business Blasters programme is a Delhi government initiative that encourages entrepreneurship among school students, aiming to make children studying in Delhi govt schools job providers instead of job seekers even before completing their studies.
“Arvind Kejriwal should be called ‘Advertisement Baba’ from today onwards…The government of Delhi spent a total of Rs 54 crore for the scheme ‘Business Blasters’. However, the advertisement of the scheme cost Rs 80 crore. The CAG mentioned that the expenditure for the advertisement of the scheme was 1.5 times the expenditure of the scheme…In another scheme, Rs 1.9 crore were invested. However, the expenditure of the advertisement was Rs 27.9 crore…” Patra said in the presser.
