BJP: ₹29.56 cr. spent to maintain Kejriwal’s bungalow for 7 years

BJP claims ₹29.56 crore spent on Kejriwal's bungalow maintenance, AAP demands transparency from Modi's residence.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday claimed that ₹29.56 crore was spent in over seven years between March 31, 2015, and December 27, 2022 to maintain the government bungalow allotted to then Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The BJP cited a Right to Information (RTI) response to a citizen from Maharashtra who had sought details of cost of the maintenance of Mr. Kejriwal’s old residence.

Hitting back, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) asked the BJP to open Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official residence to the public.

Addressing a press conference, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva alleged that an annual maintenance cost of ₹3.69 crore for a government bungalow suggests that Mr. Kejriwal either maintained it in a “royal standard” or, more likely, was involved in “corrupt practices”.

“In Delhi, where one can build a decent 250-300 sq. yard bungalow with ₹4 crore, the cost of maintenance for Kejriwal’s bungalow at ₹3.69 crore annually is astonishing. The people expect him to come forward and clarify what exactly was so deficient in his bungalow that ₹31 lakh per month was needed for its maintenance,” he said.

Claiming that it was a government house and not Mr. Kejriwal’s private property, AAP in a statement said, “We had demanded that both PM Modi and Mr. Kejriwal’s residences should be opened to the public, but they blocked the media and hid behind police barricades. Elections are over. The BJP is in power — and they’ve betrayed Delhi. No ₹2,500 for women, no free cylinders on Holi. Just jumlas (empty rhetoric).”