New Delhi: The CBI has registered a preliminary enquiry to look into alleged “irregularities and misconduct” by unidentified public servants of the Delhi Government in connection with the construction of a new official residence for Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, officials said on Wednesday.
The ruling Aam Admi Party in Delhi said it welcomes the probe and claimed that “as with all earlier enquiries in all other matters so far, nothing will come out in this”.
“It is a desperate attempt of the BJP to malign AAP,” the party alleged.
There is “only one party which is AAP that seeks votes on the basis of doing good work in the fields of health and education but the BJP does not want that the poor people should have good education and excellent health facilities,” it said.
The Aam Admi Party said the BJP was now trying to corner Arvind Kejriwal by deploying all the investigative agencies.
“They have lodged and investigated more than 50 cases against Kejriwal but nothing has come out of it. Nothing will come out of this (CBI enquiry) also,” it said.
Kejriwal’s official residence had been built in 1942 and the roof had collapsed thrice, Aam Admi Party MP Sanjay Singh had said at that time.
Following the roof collapse incidents, the Public Works Department (PWD) suggested a new house be built and this was done, he had said, claiming Rs 30 crore was spent on the rebuilt house.
Kejriwal has been occupying the official residence- at 6 Flagstaff Road in the Civil Lines area after becoming chief minister in 2015.
It also has the chief minister’s camp office spread over a 5,000 square metre area, officials had said.
A senior PWD official had said, “It was not renovation and a new structure has come up in place of the old structure. His camp office is also there. The expenditure is around Rs 44 crore but what is to be noted is that the old structures have been replaced with new ones.”
According to documents, the total expenditure included Rs 11.30 crore on interior decoration, Rs 6.02 crore on stone and marble flooring, Rs one crore on interior consultancy, and Rs 2.58 crore on electrical fittings and appliances.
An amount of Rs 2.85 crore was spent on fire-fighting systems, Rs 1.41 crore on wardrobe and accessories fitting, and Rs 1.1 crore on kitchen appliances.
A separate amount of Rs 8.11 crore of the sanctioned amount of Rs 9.99 crore was spent on the camp office of the chief minister at his official residence, it showed.
Accusing the BJP of political vendetta, the Aam Aadmi Party said, “No matter how many enquiries BJP gets launched, Kejriwal will continue to fight in the interest of the common people. Kejriwal has vowed to make India the number one country in the world and he will do so. He is ready to pay any price for it.”
PTI