The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday called on Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena to annul the merger of four properties with the “Sheesh Mahal” (6, Flagstaff Road), a move that has become a focal point in the party’s campaign accusing AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal of corruption.
Virendra Sachdeva, president of Delhi BJP, alleged that the bungalow was enlarged by combining four government properties and has urged Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena to revoke the merger.
He stated that the newly formed government would determine the future use of the bungalow, emphasizing, “The next chief minister of Delhi will not live in it.”
The renovated bungalow was Arvind Kejriwal’s official residence as Delhi’s chief minister from 2015 until October 2024, when he vacated it after resigning amid corruption allegations from the BJP. The newly elected BJP MLA from Rohini, who previously served as the Leader of Opposition in the 7th Delhi Assembly, which was dissolved last week, remarked that the BJP’s Chief Minister would not occupy the bungalow, as it is currently under investigation for alleged irregularities.
Gupta further stated that the land from the demerged properties was repurposed for other official purposes, including the construction of government quarters.
For more than two years, especially during the assembly election campaign, the BJP relentlessly attacked Kejriwal, accusing him of corruption. This included allegations of irregularities in the bungalow’s reconstruction, lavish interiors, and the installation of luxury domestic goods and fixtures.
Kejriwal turned the bungalow into an ultra-luxurious “Sheesh Mahal” by “illegally annexing” adjacent government properties, Gupta wrote in his letter to the Lieutenant Governor.
“The extent of these unauthorized modifications is especially troubling. What was originally intended as a standard official residence has been transformed into an extravagant complex covering over 50,000 square meters,” Sachdeva stated in the letter.
He claimed that the merged properties included eight Type-V flats at 45 and 47 Rajpur Road, as well as two government bungalows (8-A and 8-B Flag Staff Road), all of which were combined with the bungalow at 6, Flagstaff Road.
Sachdeva has urgently called for the restoration of the properties to their original independent status and the return of 6-Lag Staff Road to its previous size of under 10,000 square meters. Meanwhile, Gupta has appealed to the lieutenant governor to expedite the investigation into the alleged violations, stressing the importance of swift action to ensure accountability and rebuild public trust in government institutions
