Yogi Adityanath government may not disturb status of house Mayawati vacated

NEW DELHI: The Uttar Pradesh government is unlikely to disturb the present status of the 13A Mall Avenue bungalow, people aware of the matter told ET about two weeks after Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati vacated the property in line with the Supreme Court order on government accommodation occupied by former chief ministers.

A few days before vacating the bungalow, Mayawati had named it ‘Shri Kanshi Ramji Yadgar Vishram Sthal’ or a memorial to BSP founder and Dalit leader Kanshi Ram, turning it into a political hot potato in the run-up to the next general elections.

“If the government accepts Mayawati’s plea to turn the bungalow into a memorial to Kanshi Ram, the bungalow will have to be opened to public immediately,” said a senior UP government official, who did not wish to be identified.


“But in view of the 2019 Lok Sabha election the ruling BJP would not like to stir any fresh political trouble by disturbing the bungalow’s present status,” the official said. The bungalow, which is now a single property following the merger of two government houses, has a statue of Kanshi Ram installed in it.

“It can’t be used for residential purposes,” said another official. “The government has one good option – to declare the bungalow a VIP guest house.”

Unlike SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, who is now facing questions over alleged damage to the bungalow which he had vacated, Mayawati had invited media persons to take a round of the bungalow in order to substantiate her plea that it was indeed a memorial to Kanshi Ram.

The responsibility for the maintenance of the memorial would henceforth lie with the state government, she had said. Officials said the Yogi Adityanath government swiftly deployed its staff and security personnel for proper maintenance of the bungalow.

“The decision regarding the future use of the building will be taken at a high level,” Yogesh Shukla, the state government’s Rajya Sampatti Adhikari or estate officer, told ET.