At Shimla abode, Priyanka shows mum around

Bhanu P Lohumi

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Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 17

Having fond childhood memories of holidays spent with her father Rajiv Gandhi at the Retreat, summer residence of the President, Priyanka Robert Vadra has an emotional connect with Chharabra, the place she chose to construct her dream house.

Priyanka, accompanied by her mother Sonia Gandhi, today reached here by road from Chandigarh to give final touches to her house, the construction of which began around eight years ago. In Chharabra for three days, both of them drove straight to the Wildflower Hall.

Sources said after a brief halt at the hotel, the mother-daughter, accompanied by two architects, visited the construction site, about 500 metre from the hotel, nestled in pine trees.

“Priyanka was satisfied with the construction and asked for some modification in the design. She also wanted the width of the balcony to be increased allowing more sitting space to have a better view of the surroundings,” a source said. They were at the site for almost two hours.

Notwithstanding the problems she faced in acquiring the 4.25 bigha land in 2007 for Rs 47 lakh, she was keen on having her house built at this very site. Being located in the vicinity of Chharabra, where the Retreat is located, permission for the transaction had to be obtained from Rashtrapati Niwas. In fact, with the land owners living in the US, it took quite some time for her to finalise the deal.

Having a clear picture of what her dream house must look like, she had the near-complete house entirely dismantled in 2011 and the design and location of the building was changed.

No Congress leader or any other dignity called on Sonia and Priyanka as their programme was kept a secret. Speculations are that the Chief Minister and senior Congress leaders may seek Sonia’ appointment, but there is no official confirmation so far. The NSG had cordoned off the area between the hotel and the house.