Bungalow row a BJP conspiracy: Akhilesh

Shahira Naim

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, June 13

Former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday smelled a BJP “conspiracy” to malign him in reports of damage to the bungalow vacated by him here, drawing a sharp retort from the ruling party that slammed him for “using a language that showed his frustration”.

Stung by a letter written by Governor Ram Naik to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath about the damage at the bungalow on 4, Vikramaditya Marg, the SP chief convened a press conference here  to vent his ire at the ruling party and did not spare the Governor in his outburst.

Armed with two taps, he said: “If the government can prove that I took out taps from the bungalow’s bathroom, I am willing to replace them.” Complying with the SC order, Akhilesh had last week vacated the bungalow, allotted to him as a former CM. Since then, a concerted campaign has started that he has left the place vandalised and badly damaged, removing floor tiles, bathroom fittings et al.

He admits to having removed the equipment of his personal gym that he had set up as it was his personal property and would be using it in his new house.

Accusing the BJP of leaving no stone unturned to malign his image by releasing “photography angles” of the “damage”, Akhilesh said it would, however, not cover the electoral losses that the saffron party had recently suffered. “It’s a conspiracy of the BJP after its humiliating defeat in byelections in Gorakhpur, Phulpur, Kairana and Noorpur. It is rattled after these repeated defeats,” he said.

Referring to Governor Ram Naik asking Yogi to investigate the charges of damage to the bungalow, Akhilesh said he was a nice person but at times the RSS infiltrated his soul. “He is a good person but he is not following the Constitution. He does not have the Constitution in his soul but there is the RSS,” he said.

He said if the government had any inventory of the well-maintained bungalow he recently vacated and if any item was found missing as per the written inventory, he was ready to pay for it.

Cabinet minister Siddharth Nath Singh accused the ex-CM of using badly chosen language against the Governor.