Tale of two Presidents, two bungalows
Finishing touches are being given to an iconic heritage bungalow in Lutyens’ Delhi to welcome outgoing President Pranab Mukherjee who demits office on Monday.
The 10, Rajaji Marg mansion will now be the humble abode of 81-yearold Mukherjee as he moves out of the grand Rashtrapati Bhawan, where he had assumed office as the 13th President on July 25, 2012.
The Raj-era bungalow, endowed with sloping redtiled roof and fitted with chimneys, has been given a fresh coat of paint while its wide lawns and gardens spruced up.
The two-storey house had also served as a retirement home for former President the late A.P.J. Abdul Kalam till his death in 2015, after which it was allotted to Union culture minister Mahesh Sharma.
Mr Sharma vacated the 10, Rajaji Marg house
Finishing touches are being given to an iconic heritage bungalow in Lutyens’ Delhi to welcome outgoing President Pranab Mukherjee
after it was allotted to Mr Mukherjee and has shifted to the bungalow at 10 Akbar Road, a singlestorey Lutyens’ mansion, a senior official said.
Incidentally, the minister’s official bungalow is also serving as a temporary residence of President-elect Ram Nath Kovind, who has been staying in it since filing his nomination as the NDA candidate.
And, so, while Mr Mukherjee, after bidding farewell to Rashtrapati Bhawan, will move to the bungalow previously occupied by Mr Sharma, Mr Kovind will ascend to the country’s first residence from the minister’s present official bungalow, in what can be described as a sort of full circle to the tale of these two Presidents. The 10, Akbar Road bungalow on the day of the declaration of the presidential poll result last week, had begun to assume the aura of a residence of the Head of State, as a string of visitors poured in to congratulate Mr Kovind on his victory. Both bungalows, built during the creation of the new imperial capital of the British Raj, would now be bracketed with the highest symbol of democratic India.