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 centres around allegations that Arvind Kejriwal spent crores of rupees renovating his official residence during the Covid-19 pandemic, a period when many public development projects were stalled.
The party has strongly refuted the allegations.
Verma emphasised that this residence, funded by taxpayer money and development allocations, should be open for scrutiny. He stated, “The people of Delhi deserve to see how their tax contributions have been utilised” and expressed his desire to take residents on a tour of the lavish property.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Kejriwal, who resigned as chief minister in September this year, vacated the Flagstaff Road bungalow in Civil Lines on October 4.
While talking to the ANI news agency, Verma called the construction of the “Sheesh Mahal” during the Covid lockdown a matter of great shame and requested the CM to make it a tourist spot so that public can come and see the “person who deceived Delhi, sold Delhi’s dreams, and 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 have written a letter to Delhi’s Chief Minister Atishi Ji, and in it, I mentioned that the people of New Delhi, where their tax money and development funds have been spent, want to see the ‘Sheesh Mahal’ (Glass Palace) and how it has been built. This is because when Delhi was completely under lockdown and people couldn’t go out, it was during this time that the Sheesh Mahal was being constructed. This is a matter of great shame,” Verma said.
“The people here told me that in the past 11 years, the Delhi Chief Minister has never invited us to his home, so we want to see how this Sheesh Mahal looks. So, I want to request Atishi Ji to declare the Sheesh Mahal as a tourist spot, so that people can come and see how the person who deceived Delhi, sold Delhi’s dreams, and betrayed the people of Delhi, built his royal palace. All these people want to see it. And as soon as it opens for the people of Delhi, I want to take the people here and show them how their Chief Minister lived in power,” he added.
In a letter, Verma requested for a time slot for public to see the Sheesh Mahal from 10am to 4pm.
“This building is no longer just a residence, but has become an important symbol of the history of governance and administration of Delhi. The public wants to understand by seeing it how the place looks like where their elected representative spent his tenure,” the letter read.
Parvesh Verma, a former MP and son of former Delhi CM Sahib Singh Verma, will be facing AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and Congress’ Sandeep Dikshit, son of former Delhi CM Shiela Dikshit, in a three-cornered contest in the upcoming Delhi assembly election.