New Delhi, Sep 12 (IANS) The Delhi BJP and the AAP on Saturday crossed swords ahead of a scheduled visit by the Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to the “Sheesh Mahal” or renovated official residence of former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in north Delhi.

The now-abandoned bungalow, or “Sheesh Mahal”, had become a major election issue for the BJP that wrested power from the AAP in the 2025 Assembly elections.

While AAP’s Leader of Opposition and former CM Atishi on Saturday accused BJP leaders of making wrong claims about allegedly extravagant spending on facilities in the bungalow, the Delhi BJP’s Spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor hit out at Kejriwal for breaking government rules to renovate his erstwhile official residence and indulging in wasteful expenditure.

Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta and PAC Chairman Ajay Mahawar are likely to visit the bungalow on September 14 with cameras and record their observations.

Atishi said she is confident that the claims made by BJP leaders about the bungalow will be proven wrong during the PAC team’s visit.

“The alleged claims made by the BJP about the presence of a swimming pool, a bar and golden toilet seat in the bungalow will be laid bare,” she said in a video message.

Kapoor countered her and said on X, “Honourable Leader of the Opposition @AtishiAAPji, what the Assembly Committee will show, what it will reveal — this is within their jurisdiction. But since you yourself have been the Chief Minister, please tell us — why did @ArvindKejriwalji got the bungalow at 6 Flagstaff Road constructed without obtaining approval from @duac74, without getting the map approved from @MCD_Delhi?”

Kapoor said, “…instead of getting the full budget approved, why was it built on the basis of small repair tenders? And yes, if #Kejriwalji had this built as the Chief Minister’s residence, then why was it never declared that ‘this will now be the residence of the Chief Minister of Delhi?”

In July this year, the BJP government’s PWD Minister Parvesh Verma announced that the now-sealed bungalow will be converted into a state guest house.

In the past, he shared a video on social media and described Kejriwal as “Delhi’s Rehman Dakait” – a filmy swipe aimed at comparing Kejriwal with an underworld character and extortionist in the Bollywood blockbuster “Dhurandhar”. He also shared a spoof video titled “Dhurandhar PART 3”.

The video depicted the lavish facilities created for the then Chief Minister Kejriwal at his official residence.

–IANS

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