Arvind Kejriwal fires back at PM Modi’s ‘Sheesh Mahal’ jibe with ₹10 lakh suit slam – ‘he abuses me because…’

Delhi Election 2025: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal responded to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “abusing” the people of Delhi and the majority government elected by them. The former chief minister claimed that PM Modi would not need to abuse himif his government had performed well in the ten years of power at the Centre since 2014.

“PM Modi gave a speech of 43 minutes today. For about 39 minutes, he abused the people of Delhi and the elected government. Had Modi government performed in ten years, he would not have needed to abuse the people of Delhi,” Kejriwal said at a press conference on Friday, hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi sounded the poll bugle for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of next month's Delhi Assembly Election 2025.

In his first public rally in poll-bound Delhi, Modi launched a scathing attack on the AAP and its national convenor, Kejriwal. Without naming anyone, Modi accused the AAP government of pushing the national capital into an ‘AAPda’ or disaster in the last 10 years of its rule.

“Someone who has made a house worth ₹2,700 crore for himself, someone who flies in ₹8,400 crore plane and someone who wears a suit worth ₹10 lakh talks about Sheesh Mahal doesn't sound good. I do not want to indulge in personal attacks. I do not do politics of abuse. I have worked enough in the last ten years. I believe in politics of development,” Kejriwal said,

Kejriwal referred to the custom-made “Narendra Damodardas Modi” pinstriped suit that reports suggested was worth ₹10 lakh. The suit entered the Guinness Book of world records when a man from Surat bought the suit at an auction for ₹4.3 crore in February 2016.

Modi's ‘Sheesh Mahal’ Jibe at Kejriwal

Modi accused the AAP government of blocking the Union government's benefits for the people of the national capital and took an indirect swipe at Arvind Kejriwal for building a ‘Sheesh Mahal’ for himself while he was the chief minister of Delhi.

“In the last 10 years, Delhi has been surrounded by an ‘AAPda’ (disaster). By keeping Anna Hazare at the front, a few dishonest people have pushed Delhi towards a disaster. People of Delhi have pledged that they will no more tolerate this AAPda ...,” the prime minister said using an AAP world play while addressing a public meeting at Ashok Vihar's Ramlila Ground in the national capital.

Modi's address is being seen as the launch of BJP campaign for Delhi Assembly Election 2025. The elections to the 70-member Delhi assembly are expected to be held in February.

The Election Commission of India has not announced the dates yet. The term of the current assembly in Delhi expires on February 23, 2025.

Kejriwal also hit out at the BJP for not having a CM face and fighting elections without an agenda. “There are over 4 lakh jhuggis in Delhi, 15 lakh people need houses, and today BJP is trying to pat their backs for constructing 1700 homes that too in 5 years,” Kejriwal said, recalling Modi's promise of constructing houses for everyone in Delhi by 2022.

“It seems to me that BJP’s Sankalp Patra is not something they want to do in 5 years but perhaps 200 years. With the speed at which they are working, the next set of houses will be ready only by 2030. But even that won’t happen given the way BJP is demolishing Jhuggis,” Kejriwal said.

Earlier in the day, Modi inaugurated a slew of developmental projects in the national capital, ahead of assembly polls. He inaugurated 1,675 newly constructed flats for the dwellers of JJ clusters and also handed over keys to beneficiaries at Swabhiman Apartments in Ashok Vihar, Delhi.