Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 20

Late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s room in Parliament will now be occupied by BJP president JP Nadda, sources say. The room number 4, bearing three name boards for years (of Atal Bihari Vajpayee; Chairman, National Democratic Alliance; and LK Advani), is right next to the BJP parliamentary party office.

Though Vajpayee was allotted the room after he stepped down as the Prime Minister when the NDA lost the 2004 General Election, the room was mostly used by Advani after he stepped down as the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha following the coalition’s defeat in 2009 under his command.   

Between 2009 and 2014, the room remained the hub of much political activity while the party was in the Opposition. In the years that followed, Advani used the room till he remained an MP. Though Vajpayee did not sit in it much for visitors to the Parliament building, the room with his and Advani’s name on it became a must-visit.

The room has mostly been lying vacant.

Today the nameplates of Vajpayee and Advani were removed.

Nadda, a former Health Minister, is a member of the Rajya Sabha from Himachal Pradesh. Sources say Nadda, who has so far been sharing a room with former Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha, Thaawarchand Gehlot, is likely to shift in the room.

Meanwhile, Gehlot’s room has now been allotted to Piyush Goyal, the new Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha

Incidentally, the room was initially with the JD-U, an ally of the BJP. When Vajpayee was no longer the prime minister it was converted as the NDA chairperson’s room.