Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha on Saturday launched his first attack on AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal since his merger with the BJP along with six other MPs. He supported the “Sheesh Mahal 2” charge leveled by the BJP against Kejriwal and said that the AAP should straighten up.
Chadha also said that the controversy over the former Delhi chief minister’s residence, which the BJP had earlier called ‘Sheesh Mahal’, was one of the main reasons for the AAP’s loss in the Delhi assembly elections. Follow live updates on the merger of Raghav Chadha and other AAP MPs into the BJP
“The second part of Sheesh Mahal has come in Delhi. Some pictures of it have surfaced. If there is one major reason for the Aam Aadmi Party’s loss in the Delhi elections,” Chadha said in a media interaction on Saturday.
His attack on Kejriwal came hours after the BJP leveled similar accusations of the AAP leader’s lavish living. At a press conference this morning, Delhi Minister and BJP leader Parvesh Saheb Singh Verma said: “After being forced out of Sheesh Mahal by Durandar voters in Delhi, he moved to Punjab, where he took over a bungalow and now he has set up Sheesh Mahal 2 in Lodhi Estate.”
BJP shares images, AAP says ‘downloaded from Pinterest’
The pictures that Raghav Chadha was referring to in his fresh attack on Kejriwal were of the seventh type bungalow that the Center had allotted to Kejriwal as AAP chief. The BJP showed the photos during today’s press conference, accusing Kejriwal of using “private funds” to create quality amenities in the bungalow.
However, the AAP dismissed the images as “fake, false and baseless”. AAP leader Atishi even said that the images were downloaded from Pinterest to defame Kejriwal.
“What are the times for them – when they cannot find anything against Kejriwal ji, they make false allegations based on photos taken from the internet. Parvesh Verma ji: AI could have been used for this instead; Artificial Intelligence could have been used for this instead,” Atishi wrote on X.
What is the Shish Mahal controversy?
This is not the first time that the BJP has used the ‘sheesh mahal’ weapon to target AAP and Arvind Kejriwal. Prior to the ownership of Lodhi Estate, the BJP had questioned the renovation and interior decoration of 6, a bungalow on Flagstaff Road in Civil Lines, where Kejriwal resided as Delhi Chief Minister until September 2024.
In March this year, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit report dated March 31, 2022 revealed some additional details regarding Kejriwal’s former residence.
The report, submitted by the BJP to the Delhi Legislative Assembly, cited steep cost escalation, procedural lapses and missing records. The audit found that the Public Works Department (PWD) initially prepared a preliminary estimate of $7.91 crore for additions and modifications. The work was awarded in $8.62 crores, but the final expenditure rose sharply to $33.66 crore – more than four times the initial estimate.
Read also: Kejriwal admitted Mittal to AAP, Mittal gave him his house to stay in, and they both left on the same day: What happened between them
Raghav Chadha’s big movement for BJP
Days after his rift with the AAP first came to light following his removal as the party’s deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, Raghav Chadha, along with six other MPs, announced that they are merging with the BJP.
“We have decided that we, two-thirds of the members belonging to AAP in the Rajya Sabha, will exercise the provisions of the Constitution of India and merge with the BJP,” Chadha told the media on Friday.
Notably, Ashok Mittal, who was handpicked by the AAP to replace Chadha as the Rajya Sabha chief, was also among the MPs who joined Raghav Chadha in merging with the BJP.
