Following Supreme Court’s order to all former Chief Ministers to vacate government bungalows allotted to them, former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and President of the Samajwadi Party, Akhilesh Yadav left the house on last Saturday, which was the last day of the time limit set by the court. He had earlier asked for 2 years of time to vacate the bungalow, but eventually vacated it under pressure of the media, which had exposed him on this issue.
He has now shifted to the VVIP guest house along with his family, as his own house in Sushant Lake City in Lucknow is getting ready to move in. Talking of other former UP CMs, Rajnath Singh (who is currently the Union Home Minister of India) and Kalyan Singh (who is currently the Governor of Rajasthan) had left their government house, as soon as the order in this regard, was passed by the SC.
Former CMs Narayan Dutt Tiwari and Mayawati have tried the formulae of converting their government houses into memorials registered in the name of their trusts, so that they need not have to vacate it. Though Akhilesh did vacate his bungalow, he has left it in a deteriorated condition. The officials of UPs estate department ‘Rajya Sampatti Vibhag’ were shocked to see the state of the house, after Akhilesh vacated it.
The swimming pool which had been constructed at the cost of crores of taxpayer’s hard earned money, fitted with state of the art italian marble tiles, was left completely ruined. Valuable glass, costly imported plants and expensive tiles had been missing from several places inside the house. According to sources, some of these articles are said to have been fitted by Akhilesh himself, and therefore have been taken away.
Since Akhilesh’s new house is a combination of two villas, each of which is valued at 3 crores, sources say that these articles would be installed there. If this is true, then according to us, Akhilesh is guilty of two wrongs. Firstly, he shouldn’t have modified a government property like it was his personal one. Secondly, such behaviour is not befitting of a former CM of India’s most populated state, who is followed by crores of people.
