AAP’s ‘House of controversy

This is one more controversy the Aam Admi Party (AAP) could have done without after the embarrassment it faced because of the alleged involvement of its former Deputy CM, Manisha Sisodia in the Excise Policy Scam.

Both the Congress and BJP have been baying for Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s blood claiming that a staggering amount of Rs 45 crore was spent on renovating his official residence at 6, Flagstaff Road, Civil Lines, in the national capital.

The AAP is no ordinary outfit - it rose to prominence leading an anti-corruption movement when the previous Congress-led UPA government was in power and played a pivotal role in the ouster of the coalition in 2014.

In the nine years since then, it has taken on the water tanker mafia, school mafia and the contractor mafia among  many others while professing to uphold the interests of the ‘Aam Admi’. Its dedication to the common man’s cause saw it run away with the mandate in consecutive Delhi state polls besides seizing the reins of power in Punjab.

The party proudly proclaimed that it stood for transparency in political funding unlike other parties and has over the years, won the admiration of people across all classes without doubt.

But recent happenings have cast a shadow on the image of the outfit which was seen by many as the rising star on the Indian political horizon. The arrest of Satyendar Jain, a minister in the Kejriwal cabinet on money laundering charges, an expose on the ‘comforts’ he was being provided in a Delhi prison and the recent arrest of Deputy CM Manish Sisodia have all instilled lingering doubts in many a mind on whether this is the same party which evoked pride because of its commitment to transparency and clean politics.

The house controversy has come in handy for the BJP, which has drawn a parallel between Kejriwal’s residence and that of dictators like the late Saddam Hussein of Iraq and Kim Jong Un of North Korea. ‘Kejri claims to be a common man but lives like a king’ is the refrain of the saffronists while AAP hit back saying the renovation was necessary as the CM’s residence was 80-years-old and had witnessed roof collapses.

The Congress has fired the latest salvo saying the amount spent on the residence was Rs 171 crore and not Rs 45 crore as reported earlier. Their logic is that the government had to buy additional flats for officers whose houses had to be either demolished or vacated for the expansion of the CM’s residential complex.

A Congress leader claimed that the money spent by the whole cabinet of former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit on their homes in 15 years of its rule, was no match for that spent on Kejriwal’s ‘palace’. He added that this huge amount was spent at a time when people were running around for hospital beds and suffering due to the lack of oxygen during the pandemic.

To add to AAP’s misery, a conman has claimed that he had paid for the high-end furniture and bedding for the residence of the CM.

Congress and BJP have their own reasons for targeting AAP but there are many who wonder why the extravagance could not be stopped. Politicians always have the option of saying no and going by the claims being made, it has not happened in the case of the Delhi CM’s residence.

All that people can hope for is a clear and lucid explanation from party leaders on the whole episode so that the air clears and there is no room for misinterpretation. The Delhi Assembly poll are still two years away but that cannot be an excuse for AAP to dismiss these allegations as ‘politically motivated’ and nothing else.