Masterstroke by Mayawati to stay on in her bungalow

The Bahujan Samaj Party on Friday played a masterstroke when BSP general secretary Satish Chandra Misra met UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath and informed him that the notice served to Ms Mayawati to vacate her 13A Mall Avenue bungalow was “erroneous” as the property was allotted in the name of the “Kanshi Ram Yaadgar Vishram Sthal”.

He said Ms Mayawati often resided in two rooms of this property.

He also showed a UP Cabinet order of January 2011 when it had passed a resolution dedicating the Kanshi Ram Yaadgar Vishram Sthal to the people. The order also allowed Ms Mayawati to live in a “portion” of the property as caretaker.

“The bungalow was originally allotted to Mayawati but in 2011 the UP government decided to convert it

into a memorial, and it was decided that because Mayawati was using only a small tworoom portion and the rest had a Kanshi Ram library and murals, the entire premises would be a memorial, on January 13, 2011”, Mr Misra told reporters.

Mr Misra further said that as a former chief minister, Ms Mayawati lived in the 6 Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg bungalow, but she had not got any eviction notice for this property. “If we get a notice for this bungalow, we will comply with the Supreme Court orders”, he said. The 6 Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg bungalow was used by the BSP for Bahujan Volunteer Force activities.

It may be recalled that after the estate department began issuing notices to former chief ministers to vacate their bungalows on the Supreme Court’s orders, a board declaring Ms Mayawati’s residence as “Kanshi Ram Yaadgar Vishram Sthal” had come up at the bungalow.