‘Fix schools, not lavish homes’: CJP flags Rs 92-cr upkeep bill for ministers’ homes

The Cockroach Janta Party has questioned the Centre over expenditure on maintaining Union ministers’ residences in Lutyens’ Delhi, arguing that the money could be better used to improve government schools.

The party’s criticism followed a report that the annual upkeep bill for the residences had increased from Rs 27 crore in 2014-15 to a record Rs 92 crore in 2025-26.

“Stop fixing your lavish homes, and fix the schools,” the CJP said on X, claiming that Rs 92 crore would be sufficient to construct 10 “world-class” government schools.

Citing figures that it said were obtained through a Right to Information application, the party claimed that Rs 133.9 crore was spent on maintaining ministers’ residences between 2014 and 2019. The expenditure reportedly rose to Rs 250 crore between 2019 and 2024, while another Rs 174.5 crore was spent from 2024 to 2026.

The total expenditure over the 12-year period was estimated at Rs 547.68 crore.

The issue has been raised amid the CJP’s ‘School Thik Karo’ campaign, launched on 15 August to seek social audits and improved infrastructure in rural government schools. The initiative focuses on electricity, drinking water, toilets, mid-day meals and transport facilities for students.

The party has maintained that inadequate funding should not prevent schools from receiving essential facilities when substantial public resources are being spent elsewhere.

CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke had earlier questioned why the PM CARES Fund could not be used to improve rural schools. According to its latest audited statements, the fund’s corpus increased by 17.8 per cent, from Rs 7,173.03 crore in 2023-24 to Rs 8,452.07 crore in 2024-25.

Dipke said visits to village schools had revealed shortages of basic facilities, including drinking water. Estimating that a well-equipped model school would cost about Rs 8 crore, he argued that the PM CARES corpus could theoretically finance more than 1,000 such institutions.

Earlier, in Rajasthan, CJP co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka and party volunteers came under attack during a visit to a government school in Jaipur’s Rampura-Kanwarpura village on Friday.

Ranka claimed that a group prevented the team from entering the village and assaulted several volunteers, leaving one with a broken arm. Videos showed a confrontation and damaged car windows.

The CJP alleged that BJP workers were responsible for the attack, a claim that has not been independently verified. The BJP denied the allegation.

With agency inputs