Has Delhi CM Atishi been evicted from her official residence?
Oct. 9, 2024, 3:49 p.m.
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Has Delhi Chief Minster Atishi been evicted from her home?
The Delhi Chief Minister's Office asserts that Atishi's belongings were forcefully removed from her official residence.
Atishi had moved to Bungalow number 6 on Flagstaff Road in north Delhi’s Civil Lines on Monday.
This event occurred shortly after former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal vacated the residence following his resignation from the post.
Let’s take a closer look at the row:
What happened?
Business Today reported that on Wednesday, the Public Works Department (PWD) sealed the official residence of the Delhi chief minister.
The PWD has stated that Kejriwal should have turned over the keys to the residence.
However, the bungalow’s keys were given directly to Atishi.
As per NDTV, visuals show belongings being removed from the CM’s residence as well as a double lock on the door.
News18 reported a statement from the CMO that Atishi's personal belongings were forcibly taken away at the direction of the BJP.
The statement alleged that Lieutenant-Governor VK Saxena intended to allocate the bungalow to a BJP leader.
“For the first time in the history of the country, the Chief Minister’s residence was vacated. At the behest of the BJP, the Lt Governor forcibly removed Chief Minister Atishi’s belongings from the Chief Minister residence,” the CMO said in the statement, as per NDTV.
AAP MP Sanjay Singh claimed the BJP was making an effort to "illegally acquire" the bungalow.
He alleged that Atishi had established a temporary workplace on the premises which has also been vacated.
"As the CM, Atishi was required to occupy the residence. However, it hasn't been formally allotted to Atishi. She converted it into a temporary office and began holding meetings, then they removed the staff. The BJP is now attempting to take possession of the CM's residence because they are not winning the elections," Singh was reported as saying by News18.
Advertisement In the meantime, AAP's national spokesperson, Priyanka Kakkar, characterized the developments as "petty politics."
"His intention is to assign the CM's residence to a BJP leader. For 27 years since the BJP gained control of Delhi, they have tried everything to take control of the AAP government's authority, and now they want to seize the CM's residence," Kakkar asserted.
L-G’s office dismisses claims, BJP attacks
However, the Lieutenant-Governor’s office dismissed such claims.
"Atishi personally kept her belongings in that house even before it was formally assigned to her and subsequently removed them herself," the source revealed.
“Chief Minister Atishi has not been assigned this house yet. Her official residence is still 17 AB Mathura Road. How can two houses be assigned?” they questioned.
Advertisement As reported by NDTV, Atishi was assigned the 17 AB Mathura Road bungalow last year after joining the BJP government.
The “bungalow will be assigned to the Chief Minister immediately after the PWD completes the inventory,” the sources added.
The BJP claimed the bungalow has been handed over to the PWD.
BJP leader Vijender Gupta, Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, accused Atishi of “unlawfully” occupying the bungalow.
Gupta shared a purported PWD letter dated October 6 that claimed that Kejriwal “did not vacate his bungalow” and that most of his belongings are still there.
“It has come to our attention that the keys of the house at 6, Flag Staff Road, handed over to PWD, were retrieved after a period and have yet to be returned to PWD to finalize the handover process,” the letter read.
Gupta questioned why the keys were allegedly given directly to Atishi instead of the PWD, as per News18.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said, “Arvind Kejriwal's ‘sheesh mahal’ has finally been sealed. How did he reside in the ‘sheesh mahal’, which lacked completion approval from authorities? He also desired his CM (Atishi) to occupy that residence. What is concealed within that house?”
With inputs from agencies