New Delhi: Former railways minister Lalu Prasad Yadav has decided to move court against an eviction notice relating to a government bungalow he was assigned when he was a member of the federal cabinet.
Yadav has been occupying a ministerial bungalow located on New Delhi’s Tughlaq Road since 2004 when he took over as the railways minister.
Although he ceased to be a federal minister in 2009, the Congress party which was in power at the federal level then, allowed him to continue occupying the bungalow though, as a member of parliament, he was not entitled for one.
Lalu’s membership to the Lok Sabha was terminated in October last year after being convicted in the fodder scam. Technically he was required to vacate the bungalow after ceasing to be an MP, the Congress party-led government accepted his request in February this year and extended allotment to him for one year with an eye on the fast approaching general elections.
Lalu is president of the regional Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) party and the Congress party had been seeking an alliance with his party in Bihar during the general elections.
A change in government at the federal level, however, changed the scenario as the Cabinet Committee on Accommodation (CCA) earlier this month cancelled the February order of the previous government and served Lalu an eviction notice.
Sources close to Lalu, who is busy campaigning in Jharkhand for candidates of the Congress party led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), said that the RJD chief would contest the eviction order in court.
“He (Lalu) has several reasons for it. Change of government does not mean change in decisions taken by the previous government. Moreover, both he and his wife (former Bihar chief minister) Rabri Devi are not keeping well and require to visit AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences). Moreover, his school going grand children live with him in the bungalow and he cannot be thrown out before their current academic session ends,” said a close associate of Lalu.
Besides Lalu, former federal minister Buta Singh is also contesting the eviction order. Like Lalu he too has ceased to be an MP and has moved to the court stating as since he continues to enjoy the Z Plus category security, he cannot be evicted from the government bungalow. Z Plus is the highest level of security provided to anyone facing serious security threats and the incumbent Narendra Modi government has not scaled down Singh’s security.
Earlier in, another former federal minister Ajit Singh was smoked out of his Tughlaq Road bungalow after civic authorities disconnected water and electricity supply to the bungalow Ajit Singh wanted to hold on to demanding it be converted into memorial of his late father and former prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh.
The CCA had cancelled allotment of 2, Motilal Nehru Place bungalow to another former federal minister Murli Deora who incidentally died on Monday.
Former ministers and ex-MPs are famous for overstaying at government bungalows after getting defeated in elections, forcing authorities to adopt tough stands since the new MPs and ministers are forced to live in guest houses and hotels.
Lalu’s last hope of continue to live in the Tughlaq Road bungalow has also evaporated as it has been pointed out to him that only president of a national party is entitled to a government bungalow in New Delhi and Lalu’s Rashtriya Janata Dal is a regional party.
