LUTYENS' BUNGALOW AS PENSIONARY PRIVILEGE TO KEJRIWAL

IN the winter of 2013, Arvind Kejriwal had swept to power in the national capital, with his party getting unexpected success in the assembly elections.

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Kejriwal's campaign focused on the luxury enjoyed by those in public office and swore to not use luxurious government accommodation or transport as long as he remained in office.

In a case of rare theatrics, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader had operated from the government apartment allotted to his wife at Kaushambi in Delhi's suburb of Ghaziabad. He had also done the drama of taking a Metro ride from Kaushambi to his office.

Fast forward to 2025, out of office for almost a year now, Arvind Kejriwal is fighting a bitter battle in Delhi High Court for a Type VIII accommodation in his capacity as former Chief Minister of the national capital territory. His lawyer had mentioned before the court, "It has to be a Type VII or VIII. They cannot downgrade me to a Type V I'm not favoured. I'm not Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP)." Now what does a Type VIII bungalow come with? These are the largest class of government bungalows in the Lutyens' Bungalow Zone. Allotted to very senior functionary and officials like Cabinet Ministers, Supreme Court or High Court judges, and top secretary level bureaucrats among others.