Health minister seeks bungalow vacated by Akhilesh or Mulayam

LUCKNOW : A war of words erupted between the BJP and SP on Tuesday over the bungalows vacated by former chief ministers. The bone of contention was a letter written by health minister Sidharth Nath Singh to principal secretary to the CM seeking allotment of the 4, Vikramditya Marg or 5, Vikramaditya Marg bungalows vacated by SP president Akhilesh Yadav and SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, respectively.

LUCKNOW: A war of words erupted between the BJP and the SP on Tuesday over the bungalows vacated by former chief ministers.

The bone of contention was a letter written by health minister Sidharth Nath Singh to principal secretary to the CM seeking allotment of the 4, Vikramditya Marg or 5, Vikramaditya Marg bungalows vacated by SP president Akhilesh Yadav and SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, respectively

Drawing the attention of the officer to the problem faced by the staff and visitors due to shortage of space in his 19, Gautampalli bungalow, Singh said the bungalow vacated either by Mulayam or Akhilesh be allotted to him.

Hitting out at the BJP, Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary said the health minister’s letter threw light on the designs of BJP leaders.

“To grab the bungalows, the state government not only forced former CMs to vacate the bungalows but also made baseless allegations against the SP president to misguide the people,” he said.

Reacting to Chaudhary’s allegation, senior BJP leader Vijay Bahadur Pathak said the former CMs vacated the bungalows on the order of the Supreme Court.

“Since the former CMs have moved out, the estate department

can allot it to ministers,” he said. A senior SP leader alleged that besides Singh, other senior ministers were also in the race for big bungalows vacated by six former CMs. “Siddharth Nath Singh is a cabinet minister and the estate department has allotted him a bungalow that is given to a minister of state. He has requested the estate department to allot him a bigger bungalow. About half-a-dozen bungalows are lying vacant and he should be allotted one according to his seniority,” a BJP leader said. An estate department officer said a technical committee comprising engineers of PWD, Nirman Nigam and estate department had been set up to assess the damage to the bungalow vacated by SP-chief Akhilesh Yadav. The committee would submit its report soon, he added.