New Delhi: It seems Arvind Kejriwal, the chief of the badly bruised and battered Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has a serious problem with his accommodation. After he became the chief minister of Delhi in the last week of December 2013, Kejriwal was forced to leave a 5 bed room bungalow in the elite Lutyen's Delhi for a modest 3 bedroom accommodation in the same area.
His government lasted for just 49 days and he continued to live in the same house even after that It led to a lot of criticism. Because Kejriwal did something which he vehemently opposed till he became the chief minister. His party, the AAP defended him saying that he was paying Rs 85, 000 rent to the government for that house. The rent was paid by the AAP, they claimed.
Kejriwal told the media that he was forced to stay at a government flat because nobody was renting him a house in Delhi. A week ago, he tweeted that an admirer of him has agreed to let him stay at a big bungalow on Civil lines, the elite area of old Delhi.
The bungalow on Civil lines belongs to a former Congress MP from Chandni Chowk, the late Biku Ram Jain. His son and art curator Naren Biku Ram Jain later clarified that he is taking the rent from Kejriwal and he is not his admirer.
Even though there is no clarity on the monthly rent for the bungalow 4B Flagstaff Road, some say it is over Rs 50,000. Kerjriwal was planning to move into the bungalow in two weeks. The things took a turn on Monday with Biku Ram Jain's other son Virender Jain speaking out against the move.
Virender said he would take his brother Naren to court for offering the four-bedroom house on rent to Kejriwal. Virender, through his counsel, claimed that he owned half of the property and that there were legal barriers to the house being given on rent.
According to Virender Jain's lawyer Girish Aggarwal, the property in question, 4B Flagstaff Road, along with other properties owned by former Congress MP Bhiku Ram Jain, has been the subject of litigation among the Jain siblings since 2010. The five brothers had entered into an agreement to divide the extensive properties owned by their father into five parcels.
Under that agreement, Virender had received a 50 per cent share in 4B Flagstaff Road house. In 2010, their two stepsisters approached the Delhi High Court for the right to get a share in their father's property.
"In July 2013, the brothers gave an undertaking to the High Court that they will maintain a status quo on the properties. In any case, under the Transfer of Property Act, no third-party rights can be created in a property that is the subject of a court case," Aggarwal said.
Naren Jain said that the complication was politically motivated and that Kejriwal would live in his house "as a guest", without any rent.
Now, nobody knows whether Kejriwal will move into a disputed bungalow or look for a government accommodation in Lutyen's Delhi. According to a Delhi Congress spokesperson, the BJP is going out of its way to provide accommodation to Kejriwal in Lutyen's Delhi. He claims that since Kejriwal, MLA from New Delhi is also a member of the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), he is trying to get a government accommodation under the NDMC quota and the Centre is helping him by changing the rules. The BJP has denied these reports.
Kejriwal has become a victim of his own 'austerity' campaign. Perhaps, he has now realized that it is easy to say something and difficult to practice the same when in power. It is a proven thing that the competitive austerity helps none.
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