Cost of party HQ: Letter to BS on BJP's new national headquarters in Delhi

Apropos “Will the new HQ be lucky?” (February 20), it is interesting that the new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office would maintain a register for visitors which would not only record name and mobile number but also their Aadhaar number. It is unclear whether this would be in paper or digital form. BJP president Amit Shah has claimed that after research it seems the 1.70 lakh sq feet headquarters is larger than that of any other political outfit. This of course needs verification. The foundation of the HQ was laid in August 2016, months before demonetisation. It makes one wonder why the BJP, which vouches for transparency, has not revealed the total cost of the new office at a time the Association of Democratic Reforms has reported that the party received 89 per cent of corporate donations in 2016-17. The HQ has opened at a time the Congress and the Opposition are up in arms over Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, questioning the PM’s claims of being the “pradhan sewak” and “chowkidar”. For now, both PM and FM are on a “na boloonga na bolnay doonga” mode.

N Nagarajan, Secunderabad