Former SP minister hands over ‘purified’ house to BJP minister
Lucknow: A former minister in the previous Samajwadi Party (SP) government has given a pleasant surprise to a new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister, giving political circles in UP a new talking point.
Former UP jails minister Balwant Singh Ramoowalia performed (shuddhikaran) purification rituals at his ministerial bungalow and then handed over the keys of the premises to new parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Khanna.
Ramoowalia’s gesture was a departure from the usual practice as outgoing ministers don’t easily vacate ministerial bungalows when their party loses power. The estate department often has to serve notices repeatedly. Ramoowalia, who occupied 10, Kalidas Marg bungalow chose to be prompt, though he did not expect the estate department to end his allotment so soon.
His move comes in the backdrop of the purification rituals performed by a team of priests at 5, Kalidas Marg, the official residence of the UP chief minister, after Akhilesh Yadav vacated the premises. The rituals were performed to ready the place for new CM Aditya Nath Yogi.
“On Tuesday, I was told through a letter that my allotment term has ended and that now Suresh Khanna is supposed to move in. I chose to move out and handed over the keys to Khanna on Friday,” said Ramoowalia.
Ramoowali shifted all his belongings from the house on Thursday. He got the house cleaned up on Friday and himself perfomed ‘shuddhikaran.’
Ramoowalia, a Sikh, said: “I did ‘aradas (prayers) before Guru Govind Singh to sanctify the house and the keys.”