Bhattal can’t occupy Sector 2 official residence: Sukhbir

Asserting that the house was earmarked for the leader of opposition and she was not any more leader of opposition, Sukhbir said she had to vacate the house, and the government had served a notice on her in this regard. On the threat perception, he said, “On security basis, one cannot retain the house.’’

Slamming the Congress, he said, “During our government from 1997 to 2002, we had made a provision for the former chief ministers to be allotted an official house. Thus, former chief ministers Harcharan Singh Brar and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal retained their houses. But when the Congress came to power in 2002, it withdrew this facility. She should blame her party rather than us. It is their own party problem.’’

However sources close to Bhattal say that when Sukhbir was the union minister he was allotted a minister’s house in Delhi. But even when he was not a minister, he did not vacate his Delhi residence and got that house allotted to his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal when she became an MP from Bathinda. Similarly, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, another senior Akali Dal leader, did not vacate his official residence in Delhi after he lost his Lok Sabha elections and continued living there. When he was nominated to Rajya Sabha as an MP, he got that house

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