by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
Special Report
Jaitley back in Lutyen's Delhi, Gets a new ministerial Bungalow
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, July 8
Former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will be back in Lutyen's Delhi soon.
If reports are to be believed, Jaitley has been allotted a new Bungalow number 22 at Akbar Road. The bungalow, presentely under occupation of former Union Minister of Steel Chaudhary Birender Singh, is now available for re-allotment.
Arun Jaitley who had shifted to his private house in Kailash Colony last month, has been re-allotted the Type VIII ministerial bungalow by the government. Jaitley had vacated his ministerial bungalow 2 Krishna Menon Marg and declined to become Finance Minister in the Modi-2 government on health ground. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited him to persuade him to stay on the government bungalow and suggested that he take oath as Minister without portfolio until he fully recovers.
It is learnt that Jaitley is showing signs of recovery and responding to treatment lately. As a member of the Rajya Sabha, Jaitley has been offered a ministerial once again due to his seniority. Jaitley accepted the offer and opted for 22 Akbar Road bungalow. However, Chaudhary Birender Singh will vacate the house he gets an alternative place of accommodation. He too is entitled to a bigger house being a member of Parliament since 1984 or an MLA and former minister.
The allotment and acceptance of 22 Akbar Road bungalow is significant in the sense that Jaitley considered his previous official residence as inauspicious. He believed that ever since he shifted to the Krishna Menon Marg house, his health continued to suffer and he had to undergo one surgery after the other.
But the 22 Akbar Road bungalow's previous occupants had been illustrious including Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ambika Soni and others. Its a different matter that Union Power Minister R K Singh remains unruffled with these beliefs and accepted the allotment of Jaitley's previous bungalow at Krishna Menon Marg. He is a former Union Home Secretary and believes and houses don't decide anybody's destiny.
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