Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav (right) with brother Shivpal Yadav in Lucknow on Friday. (Express photo by Vishal Srivastav)
The Uttar Pradesh government allotted the bungalow vacated by BSP chief Mayawati around four months ago to Samajwadi Party Secular Morcha founder and Jaswantnagar MLA Shivpal Yadav on Friday.
Mayawati had moved out of 6, Lal Bahadur Shashtri Marg, after the Supreme Court struck down on May 7 an amendment to the UP Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act that allowed former chief ministers to retain their government accommodation. After the state issued them notices on the basis of the apex court’s directive, several other leaders including former CMs Akhilesh Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Rajnath Singh, ND Tiwari and Kalyan Singh vacated their respective government
bungalows.
Mayawati had two bungalows allotted to her. While 6, Lal Bahadur Shashtri Marg was later converted into a BSP office, she moved to 13, Mall Avenue. She was served notices to vacate both premises.
While sources said Friday’s move had raised quite a few eyebrows, a government official said, “As per protocol, MLAs are at par with chief secretary and considering the seniority of those who have been MLAs for more than three terms, they are at par with ministers. He (Shivpal) is a five-time MLAs and as per seniority, he was given priority.”
Shivpal might use a part of the house as the office of his newly-formed outfit Samajwadi Party Secular Morcha, which he formed after he was removed from significant posts in the SP after Akhilesh became its president. However, he is still a part of the SP.
PTI quoted Shivpal as saying, “I have been allotted the bungalow as there were intelligence reports of threats to me. I am a five-time legislator and it has been allotted to me as a senior member of the state Assembly,” he said. He further said that he had applied for a government bungalow, and 6, Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg was allotted to him “following all rules and regulations”, the PTI report said.
Earlier in the day, the Jaswantnagar MLA had shared the dais with his brother and SP founder Mulayam at an event organised by his outfit, Samajwadi Party Secular Morcha, to mark the anniversary of socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia. This was the first time the brothers appeared together in public after Shivpal formed the Morcha.
At the event, Mulayam said, “Wherever there is injustice, whether it is meted by a younger brother or elder…always support justice.”
Asking workers of the morcha to have courage, he repeated, “You must show courage in opposing injustice and supporting justice, be it in the family or otherwise.”
Shivpal said that it was Mulayam who had made Lohia immortal by reviving his thoughts and ideology at a time when people had started forgetting him.
“The Samajwadi Secular Morcha has been formed on the basis of Lohia’s ideology…our independence is not complete.. this independence has to be achieved by us…all we want is netaji’s blessings, which have always been and will remain with us,” Shivpal said.
On the two leaders sharing the dais, BJP state spokesperson Harishchandra Srivastava claimed Mulayam was distancing himself from his son because Akhilesh had “distanced himself” from the ideologies of Lohia and socialist leader Jai Prakash Narayan.