Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday attacked the Aam Aadmi Party, accusing it of opposing the Delhi ordinance to hide renovation of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s bungalow.
“In the year 2015, a party came to power in Delhi whose only motive was to fight, not serve…The problem is not getting right to do transfer postings, but getting control of the vigilance department to hide their corruption like building their bungalows”, Shah said in his address to the Lok Sabha on the Delhi ordinance.
The home minister also hit out at the opposition for supporting AAP’s fight against the Delhi ordinance. “The Opposition is forced to support this crores being spent because of the sake of the alliance. I request opposition to forget about alliance as Narendra Modi is bound to win”, he said. Shah was referring to the renovation of Kejriwal’s bungalow which had triggered a massive political slugfest between the AAP and the BJP. The saffron party had accused the Delhi CM of spending crores to ‘beautify’ his bungalow when the capital was battling Covid-19.
The Delhi government’s vigilance directorate in the lieutenant governor had said that the renovation of Kejriwal’s official residence incurred a total cost of ₹52.71 crore. Out of this, ₹33.49 crore was spent on the construction of the house and ₹19.22 crore on a camp office for the chief minister, the report said, citing records of the Public Works Department (PWD).
Defending the ordinance in Lok Sabha, Shah said the Constitution of India allows Centre to make laws for Delhi. “This ordinance refers to the order of the Supreme Court which says that the Parliament has the right to make laws on any issue related to the National Capital Territory of Delhi”, he said.
