Indian President’s ‘second’ home spruced up for winter break

Hyderabad: The official retreat of the President of India, the Rashtrapati Nilayam, has been decked up to receive incumbent leader Pranab Mukherjee who will arrive in the city on the last southern sojourn of his term on Thursday.

Mukherjee has been quite regular in his annual southern sojourn to escape the harsh Delhi winter to spend time at the “second home of president” in Hyderabad.

During his stay in the city, Mukherjee will participate in several official and other programmes including the annual day celebrations of the Moulana Azad National Urdu University on Monday next.

He will also take time off to visit Bengaluru on Sunday to inaugurate a literary conference.

Apart from cleaning up the sprawling Rastrapati Nilayam and its surroundings, and giving a facelift to the roads, authorities have made elaborate security arrangements for the First Citizen of the country.

The white bungalow with green surroundings was specially built as the home of the English Resident by the then Nizam government. The place was chosen as Nizam’s army was stationed at Bolarum and was under the control of the English Resident as his first residence in Koti area was in a crowded area and was deemed unsafe.

Later in 1948, when Hyderabad state was merged into the Indian union, the Bolarum Residency was taken over by the Indian army and it was later converted it to Rashtrapati Nilayam for the annual soujourn.

While most presidents follow the annual tradition, some, including A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, K.R. Naryanan and Pratibha Patil, have not been so regular in keeping it.