AAP demands government accommodation for outgoing Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, says he is...

The Aam Aadmi Party on Friday demanded a government accommodation for outgoing Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, saying he is entitled to it on account of being the convener of a national party.

At a press conference here, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha said the party will be writing to the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and hoped that it would provide the accommodation to the party's national convener in one or two days. Kejriwal, who resigned as the chief minister of Delhi earlier this week, will move out of the official residence within 15 days, the party said earlier.

Chadha said every national party was entitled to two resources, an office and an accommodation for its head, to function from Delhi.

AAP became a national party following the Gujarat assembly polls in 2022 in which it got some seats and a good vote percentage, he said. The Centre provided AAP with an office after two years of struggle and the intervention of the court. AAP moved to its new office on the Ravi Shankar Shukla Lane in Mandi House last month, vacating its old DDU Marg office near ITO.

"I urge the Centre to follow the rules without any delay and any political consideration, and provide a government accommodation to party national convener Arvind Kejriwal which is his and the Aam Aadmi Party's right," Chadha said.

The presidents of the six national parties in the country, including JP Nadda of the BJP, Mallikarjun Kharge of the Congress, and Mayawati of the BSP, have been provided government accommodation in the national capital, he said. AAP's national secretary is writing a letter to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, he said, adding that he hoped the accommodation would be provided to Kejriwal without any "politically motivated" decisions.

"This demand of government accommodation as a resource is a right of AAP as per the law. The AAP has been fighting for its right since long," he said. Chadha also hoped AAP would not have to fight a legal battle for the government accommodation to Kejriwal.

Kejriwal will "very soon" give up all the official facilities provided to him as chief minister after his resignation was accepted, Chadha said. After the oath of the new chief minister, he will start giving up the facilities, he said. "He does not have a property or even his own house. As the convener of a national party, he is entitled to a government accommodation. The Centre should give him that," Chadha added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from PTI)

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