Kejriwal responded to PM Modi's "sheesh mahal" jibe at him on Friday (Jan 3) saying, "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." 

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a jibe at Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal while inaugurating 1,675 flats for 'Jhuggi - Jhopri' (JJ) clusters and two urban redevelopment projects on Friday (Jan 3) in the national capital. Modi taunted Kejriwal for his lavish residential bungalow by calling it "sheesh mahal" (House of Mirrors). 

Modi in his speech at the event said, "The country knows well that Modi never built a home for himself but has built more than 40 million houses for the poor. Even I could have built a sheesh mahal for myself." The statement came amid a long-running allegation on Kejriwal that he spent unreasonably on his residential building. 

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Modi continued his speech, "In the last 10 years, Delhi has been surrounded by an 'aapada' (disaster). By keeping Anna Hazare at the front, a few 'kattar beimaan' (extremely dishonest) people have pushed Delhi towards 'aapada'. AAP has descended as a calamity on Delhi." 

"Today, India has become a symbol of political and economic stability. This role of India will strengthen even more in 2025. This year will be the year to strengthen India's position in the world. It will be the year of making India one of the biggest manufacturing centres in the world," the PM further added. 

Earlier in the day, Modi posted on the social media platform X and called the day of inauguration an important day for the development of Delhi. 

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"Today is an important day for Delhi's development. At a programme in Ashok Vihar, will be inaugurating and laying the foundation stones for a wide range of development works which will boost 'Ease of Living' for the people of Delhi," Modi said in his post. 

'Such statements do not suit a PM'

Responding to Modi's comment, Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj told PTI, "Such statements do not suit a PM. In the past 10 years, the central government has half of Delhi and we have the other half. We have worked to improve sewage system, water supply, electricity." 

He further added “I want to ask what did the central government do for Delhi? Businessmen are getting extortion calls, and people are being murdered in broad daylight. The situation is worst in Delhi now and BJP's central government is responsible for this." 

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The inauguration of the flats marked the completion of the In-Situ Slum Rehabilitation Project by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). 

(With inputs from agencies)