NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Parvesh Verma has written a letter to Delhi Chief Minister Atishi urging her to allow public access to the CM’s official residence, which the party has repeatedly referred to as “Sheesh Mahal“.
The ‘Sheesh Mahal’ controversy centers on allegations that Arvind Kejriwal spent millions of rupees renovating his official residence during the Covid-19 pandemic, a period when many public development projects were stalled.
The party has strongly denied the allegations.
Verma stressed that this residence, funded by taxpayers’ money and development allocations, should be open to scrutiny. He stated, “The people of Delhi deserve to see how their tax contributions have been spent” and expressed his desire to take residents on a tour of the luxurious property.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national coordinator Kejriwal, who resigned as chief minister in September this year, vacated the Flagstaff Road bungalow in Civil Lines on October 4.
While speaking to news agency ANI, Verma termed the construction of the “Sheesh Mahal” during the Covid lockdown as a big shame and asked the CM to make it a tourist spot so that the public can come and see the “person who deceived Delhi.” , sold the dreams of Delhi, betrayed the people of Delhi and built his royal palace.”
The call for transparency comes amid ongoing political tensions as Verma prepares to contest against AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal in the upcoming assembly elections.
“I wrote a letter to Delhi Chief Minister Atishi Ji and in it I mentioned that the people of New Delhi, where they have spent their tax money and development funds, want to see the ‘Sheesh Mahal’ (Palace of Cristal) and “How it was built. This is because when Delhi was completely locked down and people could not go out, it was during this time that the Sheesh Mahal was being built. “This is a very shameful matter,” Verma said.
“People here told me that in the last 11 years, the Chief Minister of Delhi never invited us to his house, so we want to see what this Sheesh Mahal looks like. So, I want to request Atishi Ji to declare the Sheesh Mahal as a tourist place, so that people can come and see how the person who cheated Delhi, sold the dreams of Delhi and betrayed the people of Delhi, built his royal palace. All these people want to see it as soon as it opens. Delhi, I want to take to the people here and show them how their Chief Minister lived in power,” he added.
In a letter, Verma requested a time slot for the public to view the Sheesh Mahal from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“This building is no longer just a residence but has become an important symbol of the history of government and administration of Delhi. By seeing it, the public wants to understand what the place where their elected representative spent his tenure looks like.” , the letter reads. read.
Parvesh Verma, former MP and son of former Delhi CM Sahib Singh Verma, will take on AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and Congress Sandeep Dikshit, son of former Delhi CM Shiela Dikshit, in a three-way contest in the next Delhi assembly elections.