Chandigarh, Nov. 1 -- Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday said the house in Chandigarh, which the BJP is calling "Sheesh Mahal", is a government accommodation and his camp office, as he asked the saffron party to stop its "dirty propaganda".

Mann also said if the BJP really wants to see what a "Sheesh Mahal" actually looks like, they should go and look at the private residence of their own leader and former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh at Mullanpur on the outskirts of Chandigarh.

The BJP on Friday alleged that former Delhi chief minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal is being provided a 'Sheesh Mahal' with seven-star facility in Punjab under Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's quota, even though the former is neither an elected MLA nor part of the state government.

"People of Delhi removed Kejriwal from his 'Sheesh Mahal' in the capital but the mindset has not changed. A 'Sheesh Mahal 2.0' is being made in Punjab using taxpayers' money under the chief minister's quota because Kejriwal is the super CM of Punjab," BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla charged in a video message.

With other BJP leaders, including those from Punjab, mounting an attack on the AAP over the issue, Mann on Saturday launched a fierce counter attack.

In a video message, Mann said he strongly condemns the "false" and "dirty propaganda", which the BJP is indulging in. He claimed the saffron party has no agenda for Punjab, and that is why it was venting its frustration in this way because the people of the state rejected them in the 2022 polls.

Mann also accused the BJP of trying to divert people's attention because "the AAP is spreading its wings in Gujarat".

"The BJP is indulging in a misleading and dirty propaganda that the Punjab government has built a Sheesh Mahal in Chandigarh. It is claimed that House No. 50 in Chandigarh's Sector 2 is a Sheesh Mahal where Kejriwal lives.

"Chandigarh is a Union territory which is directly under the Centre. Show me one letter that says we have allotted a house to Arvind Kejriwal," Mann said.

"I want to make it very clear that the day I took oath (as chief minister) on March 16, 2022, government houses were allotted to the chief minister and other ministers. Kothi No. 45 in Sector 2 is the chief minister's official residence.

"Similarly, Kothi No. 50 in Sector 2, about which they (BJP) are making misleading claims, is mentioned as the camp office of the chief minister. It is part of my house. It is a camp office/guest house," he said.

The chief minister said that guests and other dignitaries from around the country come and meet him at the camp office where some of them also stay.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.