MAYA’S DRAMATIC EXIT FROM 13A MALL AVENUE
Bahujan Samaj Party chief insists it’s a memorial, hopes state government will take good care of it
BSP chief Mayawati (in picture, above) taking media persons around the 13A Mall Avenue bungalow before vacating it. Her government had in 2011 declared the bungalow as a ‘Kanshi Ram Memorial’. On May 25 this year Maya had written to the UP government stating that estate department’s directive to her to vacate the bungalow, in consonance with the SC order, was wrong. But she dramatically announced her decision to vacate it on Saturday; the last day of the 15-day deadline set for all ex-CMs to vacate government bungalows.
LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief and former UP chief minister Mayawati announced her decision to vacate 13A Mall Avenue bungalow on Saturday; the last day of the 15-day deadline set for all former chief ministers to move out of their official residences in consonance with a Supreme Court order.
She had sent the keys of her other bungalow – 6 Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg – to the estate department on Wednesday. But, the estate department had refused to accept them, saying since she lived in 13A Mall Avenue, that was the bungalow she had to vacate as per the Supreme Court order.
The estate department was planning to send her a fresh notice but before that Mayawati announced her decision to vacate the memorial after hitting out at the Adityanath government, which she said was rattled by a series of bypoll losses in UP.
Then, she invited the media inside the 13A Mall Avenue bungalow, which her government had declared a memorial to her mentor and BSP founder Kanshiram on January 13, 2011.
“You have come here several times in the past. But today I invite you to take a tour of the memorial with me so that I could acquaint you with the high points of Kanshiramji’s life, the rooms where he used to stay, the portion where I put up,” she said before she shifted out.
She stopped before murals, depicting Kanshiram’s journey, as well as a huge life statue of her mentor alongside which stands an equally tall statue of hers. Mayawati explained that the statue of hers came up as she is the only inheritor of Kanshiram’s legacy. She even took the media inside the portion of the memorial where she lived; essentially a room that had just a lone bed.
“Look at these fountains, which are in excellent condition,” Mayawati said as she walked along with the media inside the bungalow.
Mayawati has now decided to shift to the adjacent 9 Mall Avenue, spread over more than 71,000 square feet which she had purchased on November 3, 2010, three years after coming to power in UP in 2007.
“I now hope that the state government will take good care of the 13A Mall Avenue, the memorial whose maintenance was so far largely being taken care of by my personal staff. Please remember it’s a ‘Kanshiramji Yaadgar Sthal’ for me and millions of others,” she said.
On May 25 Mayawati had written to Adityanath government stating that estate department’s directive to vacate the 13A Mall Avenue bungalow in consonance with the SC order, was wrong.
A few days back, a board was put up outside 13A Mall Avenue declaring the bungalow as ‘Kanshiram Yaadgar Sthal’ leading to the buzz that she was planning to hold on to the bungalow by citing technicalities.
However, Mayawati accused the Yogi Adityanath government of pressuring the media to write bogus stories about her desire to ‘cling on to the 13A Mall Avenue bungalow’.
“I would have hoped that you (media) should have at least waited till the deadline set by the government for me to vacate the memorial. But I understand you (media) must be under pressure from the government that is clearly rattled after a series of bypoll losses,” Mayawati said.
She alleged the BJP government, anxious to divert attention from its embarrassing losses in key constituencies, wanted the media to focus their writings on 13A Mall Avenue.
After Maya’s decision now, barring the ailing ND Tiwari, all former chief ministers, have vacated bungalows which were allotted to them in their capacity as ex-CMs.
They include union home minister Rajnath Singh, Rajasthan governor Kalyan Singh, former defence minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.
Acting on a Supreme Court order last month, the UP estate department issued notices to the former chief ministers asking them to vacate their official bungalows within 15 days.
The apex court had on May 7 held that former UP chief ministers cannot retain government accommodation after demitting office.
The Supreme Court’s order came on a public interest litigation filed by NGO Lok Prahari following an amendment passed by the UP Assembly.