ND Tiwari vacates bungalow; to hand over keys after formalities

Ailing former Uttar Pradesh chief minister ND Tiwari's family has vacated the official residence in the posh Mall Avenue locality and is waiting for the Estate Department to check its property before handing over of the keys.

"We have got all our belongings in the 1-A, Mall Avenue residence shifted and now only the things that belong to the government remain in the house...we want the Estate Department to tally them with their inventory and we will hand over the keys," the son of the 92-year-old politician Rohit Shekhar said.

Though Tiwari's wife had written a letter to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath last month seeking a year's time to vacate the government bungalow allotted to him citing his bad health, the family got their belongings shifted through their staff in the state capital.

"Since the government took a humanitarian stand in view of the ill health of my father and did not trouble us with any more reminders, we decided to take this step as we did not want to sully his image," Shekhar told PTI over telephone.

"The Estate Department is aware that we have shifted our articles and they have to take the next step now," he said.

Recalling the "contributions of my father and his unparalled political career", it would be befitting to have something in his name in the state capital for future generations to know what all he had done for its development and progress, the veteran Congressman's son said

"But this should not be construed as we do not want to part with the government accommodation where my father spent a larger part of his life," he stressed.

Even though five former chief ministers - Kalyan Singh, Rajnath Singh, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav - have surrendered their official bungalows on a Supreme Court directive to former chief ministers to vacate their bungalows, Tiwari, who is presently admitted in a New Delhi hospital, had not done so and his wife had sought a year's time.