AAP's rejection of government bungalow sets new trend in Indian polity

If more people follow the Aam Aadmi Party’s cue on forgoing government accommodation in favour of more modest abodes, it could leave some government departments seriously short of seasonal work.

Reports about how much was spent on refurbishing the homes of Maharashtra ministers confirms the popular perception that such changes are what keep public works department ( PWD) staffers smiling in perpetual anticipation. Each new cabinet portends so much renovation and refurbishment activity that people could be forgiven for wondering why houses were built with any intention of permanence.

In future, governments may consider just erecting superstructures and leaving the interiors “open plan” to save state PWDs — and taxpayers — the bother of tearing down bricks, mortar, plaster and woodwork only to re-erect them according to the new occupants’ whims.

Indeed, if actual government departments had been overhauled with half as much zeal and effort as the ministers’ accommodation, Kejriwal’s party would have had to think of another USP to assert their difference from other dispensations.

But the silver lining for the PWD, of course, is that if these official residences remain unoccupied and, therefore, “neglected” during AAP’s tenure, there will be even more reason to renovate later….