Denied Mathura Road bungalow, Atishi seeks new house on Ansari Road as LoP

Officials said that she had written to the PWD’s general administration department on March 26, seeking that she be allowed to retain the AB-17 bungalow but the PWD had responded by stating that the bungalow is unavailable due to “rules of inter-pool exchange”.

“Her request to retain the Mathura Road bungalow has been refused, after which she has written to the PWD for the allotment of the Ansari Road bungalow that was earlier occupied by AAP leader Jasmine Shah, as the vice-chairman of the Delhi Dialogue and Development Commission,” a party source said.

The AB-17 Mathura Road bungalow is situated opposite Bharat Mandapam and was earlier occupied by former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia. When he went to jail in connection with the excise policy case, the bungalow was allotted to Atishi. However, Sisodia’s family had continued to occupy the bungalow as Atishi was then living at her own residence at Kalkaji.

PWD officials said an official residence is yet to be allotted to Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, though more than a month has passed since the BJP government was sworn in. Sources said a suitable bungalow for the CM is being searched in Lutyens’ Delhi, keeping in view its proximity to the Secretariat, near the ITO.

Just after her swearing-in ceremony, Gupta had announced that she would not be occupying the 6, Flagstaff Road bungalow, where former CM Arvind Kejriwal lived with his family for years. The BJP had named the bungalow ‘Sheesh Mahal’ over alleged irregularities in its construction when Kejriwal was the CM.