Mayawati vacates bungalow; alleges pressure from BJP

LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief and former UP chief minister Mayawati on Saturday announced her decision to vacate the bungalow allotted to her.

Saturday was the last day of the 15-day deadline set for all former CMS 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. The estate department was planning to send her a fresh notice but Mayawati announced her decision before that. She also invited the media inside the 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. Mayawati has now decided to shift to 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.

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.