NEW DELHI: Just three days before the beginning of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, former Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who took the oath as a member of the Rajya Sabha in April, on Friday moved into his new official bungalow on Sunehri Bagh Road, which is located in a highly secure zone in New Delhi.
Kumar’s residence is just a kilometre away from the Parliament House. Notably, Kumar’s immediate neighbours are the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Union minister Chirag Paswan.
Union home minister Amit Shah also lives in the vicinity at Krishna Menon Marg. The monsoon session is set to begin from July 20 and will continue until August 13.
Kumar performed a Griha Pravesh (house-warming) ceremony, after which he took a round of the property, a Type VIII category bungalow. Present on the occasion were Janata Dal-United (JD-U) Working President Sanjay Jha and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Chaudhary.
A Type VIII bungalow is the highest category of official government residence allocated to cabinet ministers, senior Supreme Court judges, and senior constitutional authorities. These sprawling bungalows, including lawns and five bedrooms, spread over up to as many as two acres. The allotment is managed by the Directorate of Estates (DoE) while maintaining the Central Public Work Department (CPWD), which functions under the ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA).
The new accommodation was allotted to Kumar in April. On May 1, he vacated the chief minister’s residence at 1, Anne Marg, in Patna – which got its name after former Bihar governor, Sanskrit scholar and Constituent Assembly member Madhav Srihari Aney-- after nearly two decades. Earlier, the Bihar leader had been living at another government property No. 6 in K Kamraj Lane, in New Delhi. It was allotted to Kumar as chief minister of Bihar. He would stay here during his official visit to the national capital and hold meetings and administrative discussions related to the state.
Notably, the K Kamraj Lane bungalow has now been given to the incumbent chief minister of Bihar, Samrat Choudhary, who took charge after Kumar resigned.
Earlier, the house at Sunehri Bagh Road was offered to BJP president Nitin Nabin in December when he was first appointed as the working president of the party. However, he chose another prime location at Motilal Nehru Marg.
The jamun tree-lined Sunehri Bagh Road, a winding road in Lutyens’ Delhi with a unique curve, is one of the few exceptions to the otherwise rigid, geometrically laid-out arterial boulevards. Kumar had stepped down as Bihar’s chief minister a few months ago. He will be attending Parliament for the first time as a Rajya Sabha MP. With his entry into the Upper House of the Parliament, the longest-serving CM of Bihar joins a rare club of Bihar leaders, including political rival Lalu Prasad, who have served in all four legislative houses: Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Bihar Legislative Assembly and Bihar Legislative Council.
As far as Rahul Gandhi is concerned, he, in the capacity of MP and Leader of the Opposition, was allotted this Type 8 official bungalow last year. Prior to this, he lived with his mother, Sonia Gandhi, at 10, Janpath. Since he became the MP, he was living at 12, Tughlaq Lane, until he was asked to vacate the property in 2023 following his temporary disqualification from the Lok Sabha.