Aam Aadmi Party’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal, who came to power riding on the movement against corruption of the Congress party, has emerged as the undisputed champion of fraudsters and the corrupt. Masking himself as an epitome of honesty all along, and as the only solution there can ever be, to combat corruption and counter traditional politics of appeasement, he has sunk so deep into the political quagmire of deceit and lies, that there seems to be no coming back.
Back in 2014, when his political career had just begun by hijacking Anna Hazare’s Jan Lokpal agitation, he wished, swore and made unprecedented promises. Some of which are- all AAP ministers will be living in their own houses and not in government accommodation allotted to ministers, not travelling in government vehicles, and definitely not moving with heavy security. “we will live and work like a common man does,” is what was claimed by them and apparently also reflected in his letter of oath.
For the unversed, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal spent a whopping Rs 45 crores on the renovation of his government allotted bungalow. With extravagant curtains to exquisite marble, interior decorations and interior designers almost unaffordable by the common man. Kejriwal left out no luxury from his mansion- which is now being called Sheesh Mahal after the breaking revelation by Times Now and the remarks given by the opposition.
To satiate the cravings of a lavish lifestyle for the Aam Aadmi representative, his idea of minimalism was swept under the carpet, with six carpets costing 20 lakhs and imported marble for the floor costing a staggering Rs 3.33 crores. There was a curtain raiser on the 23 Exquisite curtains installed at a cost of 97 lakhs. The chief minister also got two kitchens constructed, at a whopping cost of 63.75 lakhs, probably to cook better lies. To dress up accurately and look exactly like a common man, in a shirt, pants and hawai slippers, Mr Chief Minister got a dresser worth Rs 7 lakh and wardrobes worth Rs 40 lakhs built in his mansion.
But there’s more to it, in what we are speculating as another expenditure on AAP advertisements, Arvind Kejriwal got 10 televisions, worth 1.05 crores installed in his 8 bedroom bungalow. All this and more have taken the total expenditure of renovating the CM’s house to make it look like a mansion, reaching a staggering 44.78 crores.
Adding to Mr. Chief Minister’s proposed vanity project to turn Kejriwal’s bungalow into a Quila, or a fort. Preparations were being made to relocate officials and staff living in nearby flats, for which 8 flats had been vacated as part of the CM’s residence expansion plans. The whole street of Flag Staff Road had been vacated to build an integrated chief minister’s residential complex, increasing the area from the current 4.73 acres to 7.2 acres, in line with 7 Lok Kalyan Marg where the Prime Minister resides.
Days have passed since this startling revelation and no one from the Aam Aadmi Party has come forward for any reasonable explanation. All they have done so far is, counter question the central vista, defamed PM Modi, and blamed the LG of Delhi.
Coming back to the newly constructed mansion for Kejriwal, the whole project was signed and approved by a gentleman called Satyendra [d]Jain, who is currently lodged in Tihar Jail receiving body massages. Jain was the Minister in charge of the PWD and has been in jail since 2022 on charges of corruption. To not raise suspicion, separate tenders were passed for each work to be done, the amount of which never exceeded Rs 10 crores, each signed by the jailed former AAP minister, Satyendra Jain.
Other cases against Satyendra Jain pertain to hawala transactions of five shell companies allegedly controlled by him, in addition to him owning 200 bighas of land in villages in and around Delhi, along with his family members.
Delhi’s former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who is in jail on charges of laundering somewhere around 290 crores in the Delhi excise policy case, had 18 ministries and departments under him.
Another AAP MLA, Amanatullah Khan was arrested due to alleged financial misappropriation and other irregularities in the functioning of the Delhi Waqf Board, and searches conducted at his residence revealed his possession of illegal arms.[h]
Arvind Kejriwal, on multiple occasions has called out the need to punish the corrupt, be they from any political party, but when people of his own party were found guilty and were arrested by the ED and CBI, the AAP convener changed his stance, and called it the death of Democracy.
Now the question is… How amid the raging pandemic, Aam Aadmi Party managed to sanction Rs 45 crores in haste for the CM’s residence, and then raise questions against the central government’s efforts to combat the pandemic.
While employees of the Delhi government continue to suffer due to pending salaries, the DTC has been drowning in losses, Delhi government offices continue to remain one of the most corrupt in the country, all while Arvind Kejriwal talks only about Delhi’s education system, when even the teachers are not paid their salaries on time.
Back when the renovation was in progress, during the pandemic, Delhi government and especially Mr. chief minister was frequently heard giving lame excuses. With the amount of money needlessly used on renovating the mansion, it could be constructively used for thousands of oxygen cylinders and ICU, hundreds of mohalla clinics could have been functional which were otherwise of no use during the pandemic, thousands of Delhiites could have been provided with food during those unprecedented times.
AAP is the same party who seemed committed to bring a difference, priding itself in being different from other political parties.
Mr. CM made big promises when he was given a chance as the capital’s Chief Minister, and made even bigger ones as time passed. His promises however fell flat. From turning Delhi into London, from cleaning the Yamuna, from demanding Bharat Ratna for corruption accused and jailed AAP MLA Satyendra Jain, to removing pollution by stopping farm fires in Punjab, no one seems to have given as many false hopes to the voters as Mr. CM. Arvind Kejriwal has truly built a mausoleum on the graves of Delhiites who succumbed to Covid-19.
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