Patna: Chastened by the Supreme Court's order to vacate his bungalow, RJD leader and former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday said he would "respect" the order while asserting that his fight was against the Nitish Kumar government's "arbitrary and spiteful" action and it would continue.
He, however, alleged that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar himself was occupying "two residences" created by clubbing six bungalows here.
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed Yadav's plea, challenging a Patna High Court order asking him to vacate the government bungalow meant for the deputy chief minister and ordered him to shift to an accommodation for the leader of the opposition.
The apex court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader for pursuing a litigation up to the top court even after two benches of the high court dismissed his plea.
Yadav said people may not know that as the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, he is entitled to the same type of bungalow as the one he is now occupying.
"I have even been allotted a bungalow of the same category. But it is the state government's arbitrary, spiteful and partisan attitude against which I had put up a fight and my democratic fight would continue," he said.
The Supreme Court had asked him to vacate the bungalow at 5, Deshratna Marg to make way for Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.
Yadav, who lost the deputy chief minister post upon Nitish Kumar's exit from the grand alliance in July, 2017, also accused the chief minister of being in occupation of "two residences by clubbing together as many as six bungalows".
The chief minister's official residence is 1, Anne Marg, while Kumar is living at the adjacent 7, Circular Road which had been allotted to him in his capacity as a former chief minister after he stepped down for a few months in 2014-15.
Following objection by the Patna High Court to this last month, the 7, Circular Road bungalow has been allotted to the chief secretary. However, the top bureaucrat is yet to shift there since "repairs and renovations" are reportedly taking place inside.
The state government wants Tejashwi Yadav to shift to 2, Polo Road which was occupied by the current Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi. He vacated the bungalow last month. The senior BJP leader had lived in that bungalow for long and had kept it under occupation during the four-year period when he was not the deputy chief minister.
In his statement, Yadav also alleged that Kumar wanted him to move elsewhere since the bungalow he is currently occupying is adjacent to the chief minister's residence.
The RJD leader claimed that Kumar, also the JD(U) national president, felt uneasy as he remains cut off from the people but they have access to the RJD leader's bungalow.
Yadav also inveighed against Kumar having a bungalow allotted in his name in New Delhi besides a special suite reserved for him at the Bihar Bhavan, the state guest house, in the national capital.
At least 10 MLAs and former ministers were in illegal occupation of ministerial bungalows in Patna, he claimed.
Comments
0 comment