82 ex-MPs still to vacate official bungalows despite Lok Sabha panel warning
New Delhi: Over 80 former MPs are yet to vacate their official bungalows in Lutyens' Delhi despite a stern warning by a Lok Sabha panel, sources said.
They said the government is contemplating to take action against these ex-MPs under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act for their speedy eviction.
On August 19, the Lok Sabha Housing Committee headed by C R Patil had ordered around 200 ex-MPs, who did not vacate their bungalows, to give up the facility within a week and disconnect their power, water and cooking gas connections within three days.
"Since the committee's order, most of the ex-MPs have vacated their official bungalows. But, 82 former MPs are, however, yet to vacate their bungalows as per a recent list," the sources told PTI.
Sources in the Lok Sabha Housing Committee said this is not acceptable and that strict action will be taken against such former MPs.
"It was the panel's decision to ask ex-MPs to vacate their official residences. Now, if some of them have not done so, it is not acceptable. Strict action will be taken against them," the sources in the committee said.
Notices are being sent to these former Members of Parliament, asking them to vacate their bungalows which had been allotted to them in 2014, another source said.
"If they (ex-MPs) do not give up official bungalows, action may be taken against them under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act.
"Once the eviction order is passed, power, water and cooking gas connections will be snapped," the source added. According to rules, former MPs have to vacate their respective bungalows within one month of dissolution of the previous Lok Sabha.
President Ram Nath Kovind had on May 25 dissolved the 16th Lok Sabha with immediate effect on the recommendation of the Union Cabinet after the Modi government was formed for a second term.
A few newly-elected MPs, who won in the Lok Sabha election earlier this year, have been staying at temporary accommodation as some ex-MPs have not vacated official bungalows.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
