From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Five former union ministers Prakash Javadekar, Dr Harhvardhan, Dr Ramesh Polhriyal Nishank, Ramshankar Katheria and Pratap Chandra Sarangi, all belonging to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, have offered to vacate the government bungalows allotted to them as union ministers in the prestigious Lutyen’s New Delhi.
They are eligible for Type-7 bungalows and they will be moving into them to let the current union ministers occupy the Type-8 bungalow. Nishank is moving out from the corner bungalow at 27 Safdarjung Road, opposite the Safdarjung Tomb, which has been officially allotted to Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia since last year. Scindia has a personal attachment to this bungalow as it was home to the Scindias for years as it was earlier allotted to late Madhavrao Scindia as a union minister and then to Jyotiraditya till 2019.
Javadekar, a Rajya Sabha MP, is to vacate Bungalow No 24, Mahadev Road, and former union health minister Harsh Vardhan from bungalow No 8, Tees January Marg. BJP Lok Sabha MP Katheria from UP, has been removed from 7 Motilal Nehru Marg and Sarangi, BJP Lok Sabha MP fro Odisha, from 10 Pandit Pant Marg.
On Wednesday, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) president and Lok Sabha MP Chirag Paswan was evicted from 12 Janpth, which was allotted to his late father Ramvilas Paswan in 1990 along with his neighbour late former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi getting 10 Janpath and now occupied by Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Gandhis preferred this bungalow for an easy access to the party headquarters at 24 Akbar Road without public notice as their back gates faced each other. Ramvilas Paswan had also made his residence the office of the LJP but Delhi High Court rejected his wife’s plea to allow occupancy off the bungalow as the party office.
Late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri was the occupant of 10 Janpath until his death and it remained vacant for three years before the ChandraShekhar government allotted it to Rajiv Gandhi.
