In an apparent jibe at the Aam Aadmi Party on the eve of the Assembly elections in Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that the Centre had in the past 10 years saved crores of rupees and used the money to build the country, not a “Sheesh Mahal”.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has repeatedly claimed that the chief minister’s official residence at 6, Flagstaff Road in the national capital was turned into a “sheesh mahal”, or an opulent palace, when Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal held the post.

The BJP has alleged that renovations worth more than Rs 40 crore were carried out inside the residence.

“Earlier the headlines of newspapers used to be: scam of so many lakhs...” Modi said during a debate on the Motion of Thanks to the president’s address. “In the past 10 years, as there have been no scams, lakhs of crores of rupees of the country have been saved, which are being used in the service of the people.”

“The various steps that we took resulted in saving lakhs and crores of rupees, but we did not use that money to build the ‘Sheesh Mahal’,” Modi said. “We used that money to build the country.”

In an apparent reference to the “sheesh mahal”, Modi said: “These days, there is a lot of discussion in the media, and even more on social media. Some leaders are focused on Jacuzzis and stylish showers in homes, but our focus is on ensuring water reaches every household.”

The prime minister said that while the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government was working continuously by keeping the future of youth in mind, “there are some parties that are deceiving” the youth.

“They promise allowances at the time of elections but do not fulfil those promises,” Modi said. “These parties are an ‘aapda’ [calamity] on the future of youth.”

The BJP’s election campaign has revolved around urging voters to save Delhi from an “aapda”, a reference to the Aam Aadmi Party.

Delhi will head for Assembly polls on Wednesday. The votes will be counted on Saturday.

The AAP had said on January 7 that it is ready to open the door of the chief minister’s official residence to the public and had challenged the BJP to allow public access to what it called the “Rajmahal”, referring to Modi’s official residence at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg.

During the election campaign, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had on January 28 also repeated the BJP’s claims that Kejriwal had constructed a “sheesh mahal”.

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