The new cabinet of the United Progressive Alliance is yet to be finalised, but members of the former cabinet, who have lost the recently-held Lok Sabha polls, are already being shown the door.
Former ministers including high-profile names like Mani Shankar Aiyer, Shankar Sinh Vaghela and Ram Vilas Paswan, who were defeated in the polls, have been asked to vacate their official bungalows.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, who managed to win the election but lost his Railway ministry to Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, has been asked to vacate his bungalow at 25 Tughlaq Road.
The Urban Development Ministry has asked Lalu and 14 other former ministers of the UPA cabinet to vacate their Type 8 bungalows by June 18.
Lalu will be allotted a smaller bungalow, as there is already a paucity of the Type 8 bungalows that are meant for Union ministers, sources in the Directorate of Estates informed rediff.com.
Not willing to give up so easily, Lalu has staked claim to his bungalow, pointing out that he is entitled to an accommodation like this as he is also a former chief minister.
His political ally and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan is a resident of bungalow No 12 on Janpath, which is is adjacent to the residence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. He lost no time in turning his residence into the LJP office and seeking allotment in the name of the party.
The Directorate of Estates officials, however, said the sprawling Janpath bungalow cannot be allotted to the LJP as it is not among the national parties which are provided with government accommodation.
The sources added that the government was already under pressure about the allotment of
bungalows to ministers and it would be not possible to allow extension of stay for former ministers.
The ministers who have been served notices to vacate the bungalows or move to smaller ones are: Sontosh Mohan Dev, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Shankarsinh Vaghela, Raghunath Jha, Renuka Choudhary, A R Antulay and EVS Elangovan.
As many as 20 union ministers and ministers of state in the previous UPA government were defeated in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
