Squabble over 6, Flag Staff Road continues; Atishi yet to move in

The office of Delhi lieutenant governor VK Saxena on Saturday opened up another front in his row with the Aam Aadmi Party over the allotment of 6, Flag Staff Road to chief minister Atishi, accusing the AAP government of “attributing political motives” to him over the delay by the Public Works Department (PWD) in the handing over the bungalow to the CM, and noting that the matter is in fact a state subject.
The Delhi government hit back, accusing Saxena in turn of abusing the elected government.
6, Flag Staff Road, though not the designated bungalow for the Delhi chief minister, is nevertheless where AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal stayed during his tenure as CM. The house became mired in controversy after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused Kejriwal of spending ₹45 crore in renovating it.
Kejriwal resigned from his post on September 17, and he moved out of the residence on October 4. His successor Atishi moved in three days later on October 7. However, PWD claimed that the house was yet to be officially allotted to Atishi, and the BJP accused the CM of moving in “illegally”, and demanding that the bungalow be “sealed”.
Two days later, PWD locked the bungalow, prompting the AAP to allege that Atishi was “forcibly” evicted at the behest of the LG and the BJP. The LG office in turn said the house was locked so that an inventory could be carried out, while the BJP urged PWD to conduct a “complete investigation” of the residence.
The department finally offered Atishi the house on October 11, though the CM’s office is yet to announce whether or not Atishi has accepted the allotment of the bungalow.
On Saturday, the LG secretariat in a statement alleged that the AAP had “resorted to the most devious and diabolic exercise” to subvert norms in order to mislead the people of Delhi.
“They abused the Lt Governor attributing political motives to him knowing fully well that he had nothing whatsoever to do with the entire process of vacation or allotment owing to the fact that PWD, the agency concerned is a fully transferred subject directly and totally under the control of the AAP government and its ministers as per the constitutional scheme,” the statement said.
It also claimed that 6, Flag Staff Road has a built-up area of 1,905 sqm as the residential complex and 500 sqm as the camp office, while the highest categories of Type-8 bungalows —allotted to dignitaries such as the Prime Minister and Chief Justice of India — has a built up area of only 460 sqm, with an additional 100 sqm for other utilities.
The statement said that the building plan of 6, Flag Staff Road is yet to be sanctioned by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), which in effect means that the house is a “patently illegal structure”.
In response, the chief minister’s office accused the LG secretariat of “abusing” the elected government.
“It is sad to see this statement by the LG office which is full of abuses and allegations on the elected government. The AAP government is busy working on war footing to revive and fix all the works stopped by the LG in the last few months. These comments by LG are really not worth responding to,” an official in the CM’s office said.