LUCKNOW: The row over Supreme Court’s order asking former CMs to vacate the government accommodation took a curious turn on Friday when BSP chief Mayawati reached out to UP CM Yogi Adityanath by writing a letter to him informing that ‘13 A Mall Avenue’ was never her residence. It is rather a memorial named after BSP founder president Kanshi Ram as per a government order dated back to 2011 when she was the CM.
BSP leader SC Mishra met the CM on Friday noon to deliver the letter written by Mayawati with the 2011 order of UP estate department attached to it. As per the order, the copy of which is with TNIE,
the then dispensation, through an order, dated Janaury 13, 2011, had allowed the conversion of ‘13 A Mall Avenue’ into ‘Kanshi Ram Vishram Sthal’.
The letter also mentions that the BSP chief herself occupies only two rooms in the building. Notably, following the SC order, Mayawati had got a board of Kanshi Ram Vishram Sthal installed at 13A Mall Avenue on May 21, 2018.
Maya's letter also mentions that on December 23, 2011, the Estate Department had allotted 6, Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg as her house, which she said would vacate and hand it over to the department soon. She added that in some parts of the Mall Avenue residence, she was allowed to stay for the maintenance and security of the memorial under her care.
Mayawati said that the private workers who used to maintain the memorial site of Kanshi Ram used to live in '13A Mall Avenue' bungalow.
Mayawati, in her letter, has also requested the estate department to take proper care and ensure maintenance of Kanshi Ram Memorial at 13A Mall Aveue. "If the government wants, the BSP workers can chip in to help," says the letter.
While the letter is being viewed as an attempt by the BSP chief to save the property from going under state government’s control, renovation at her personal bungalow at 9, Mall Avenue is in full swing where she is expected to move to soon.
In compliance with SC order, the state government had issued notices to six former state CMs, including Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Kalyan Singh and ND Tiwari, to vacate their official bungalows within 15 days.