"PM is making a 'Raj Mahal'...": AAP's Manish Sisodia denies allegation of lavish spending on Kejriwal's residence

New Delhi [India], January 17 (ANI): Senior Aam Aadmi Party leader and candidate from the Jangpura assembly constituency, Manish Sisodia, on Friday, countered the 'Sheesh Mahal' allegation levelled by the Bharatiya Janata Party on former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence, and pointed to the huge spending on Prime Minister's "Raj Mahal" residence.
Stating that every Chief Minister has their own residence, the former Delhi Deputy CM claimed that Rs 2700 crores are being spent on the alleged 'Raj Mahal' of PM Narendra Modi.
"Every CM has their own residence in their state. PM is making a 'Raj Mahal' of Rs 2,700 crore; let him speak about that but this is not something that needs to be justified. But the BJP, which calls itself the biggest party in the world, has been in power for more than a decade," Manish Sisodia told ANI.
He further said that the BJP refrains from talking about schools and hospitals whenever it contests elections in Delhi.
"When they are fighting elections in Delhi, they say they won't talk about schools, hospitals...but they will say that Kejriwal has made a toilet with Gold and they will contest the election on that. We said there is no toilet made of Gold...open the 'Raj Mahal' of PM, which is worth Rs 2,700 crore; there are chandeliers in there, which are made of diamond stones worth Rs 200 crore," he said.
'Sheesh Mahal' is a term used by the BJP to target Arvind Kejriwal's official CM residence which he left after resigning from Delhi CM's post. BJP ran a campaign on alleged irregularities in its construction and money spent on costly interiors and household items there.
Being asked about 'freebies,' Sisodia said that the common people should get facilities through the money they pay in the form of taxes. He further said that other parties in the country are also following the 'politics' of Arvind Kejriwal.
"It is the money of people; rather than it being spent on close friends of those who are in power, people should get facilities through it (tax money). It is a good thing that other parties are now accepting the politics of Kejriwal, the man whom they used to make fun of...now they have realised they can't make fun of politics that is in the interest of people. But the thing that matters here is 'trust'...Earlier they used to make fun of Kejriwal, saying that he is distributing 'Revdi.' Now they are saying they will give 'Revdi' too but the thing is who will distribute 'trust...who do people trust?...people trust Kejriwal," Sisodia added.
The Delhi Assembly elections are going to be held in a single phase on February 5, with counting to be done on February 8.
Manish Sisodia, who is going to contest from the Jangpura constituency, is facing off against BJP's Tarvind Singh Marwah and Congress' Farhad Suri in a triangular contest. (ANI)