Rabri Devi may vacate official bungalow after month of Kharmas

Following receipt of notice from the State Building Construction Department on November 25, videos showing pickup trucks carrying household goods and flower pots leaving former Prime Minister Rabri Devi’s official bungalow number 10, Circular Road, which she has held since 2005 and lives with her family, show that the holiday period has begun quietly.

Ms Devi was earlier allotted 39 bungalows on Hardinge Road in her capacity as Leader of Opposition in the State Legislative Council, but RJD leaders had said Ms Devi would not vacate the existing bungalow “no matter what”.

Meanwhile, party sources said Ms. Devi may change her residence after the inauspicious moon. Kharmas In January. Ms. Devi, wife of her ailing husband Lalu Prasad, who is also former Minister of State and party Rashtriya Janata Dal chief, lives in the bungalow along with other family members. Recently, it was revealed that Mr. Prasad has built a palatial house in Patna’s Mahuabagh area and party sources said he is likely to shift his residential address there instead of the official residence allotted to his wife. Photos of the house under construction went viral on social media.

Earlier, State RJD chief Mangani Lal Mandal had maintained that Ms. Devi would not vacate her current bungalow, where she had been living for the last two decades, “at any cost”. Mr. Mandal had also termed the government’s decision as “an act of political malaise against party chief Lau Prasad”. Their (Mr Prasad and Ms Rabri Devi) Singapore-based daughter Rohini Acharya, in a post on social media, also accused the Nitish Kumar government of “targeting her family to insult Lalu Prasad, the messiah of millions” and also urged the government to “respect Lalu Prasad’s political reputation and health”.

However, late on the night of December 25, 3-4 pickup trucks carrying household goods and flower pots were seen leaving Ms. Rabri Devi’s house, triggering speculations that “the process of evacuating the bungalow may have started quietly.”

On November 25, the Building Construction Department of the NDA government issued a notice to Ms. Devi to vacate her bungalow, but no timetable was given. State Building Construction Department Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said the new allocation for Ms Devi “has adequate space and is designed for high-ranking officials”.

The government has also sent a notice to Mr. Prasad and Ms. Devi’s estranged elder son, Tej Pratap Yadav, who lost the last assembly elections in Mahua constituency in Vaishali district where he contested as a candidate of his own party, Janshakti Janata Dal (JJD). Mr. Yadav has been asked to vacate his government-allocated residence at 26-M Strand Road, which is currently allotted to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ ST) Welfare Minister Lakhendra Kumar Raushan.

“Let’s see when and how much time it will take to vacate their official bungalows… they have to vacate as there is a government notification sent to them as per rules and regulations,” a leader of the state BJP said on condition of anonymity.