It has been around two months when Chirag Paswan was served a notice to vacate the ’12, Janpath’ bungalow allotted to his father late Ram Vilas Paswan. With IT and Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnav in waiting, time is running out for Paswan to vacate the bungalow. While Chirag has received a notice to vacate the house, a small bust of Ram Vilas Paswan has come up at the bungalow.
Notably, senior Paswan lived in the bungalow with his family for over three decades. Since the demise of the union minister, his son Chirag has been living there, despite he being allotted 23, North Avenue, as Lok Sabha MP from Jamui. The Urban Development Ministry’s Directorate of Estates recently allotted the bungalow to Railway and IT Minister Ashwani Vaishnaw.
Paswan died in October last year just before Bihar Assembly Polls and his family was supposed to vacate the bungalow within a year. However, according to an Indian Express report, Chirag has been given an extension of a few more months.
However, the installation of Ram Vilas Paswan’s bust has unsettled the BJP leadership as they believe that Chirag may refuse to move out and further politicise the issue. The Paswan family enjoys huge support from the Dalit community and the BJP can ill-afford to antagonise them at such a crucial juncture when the UP Assembly elections and Bihar panchayat elections are looming. The BJP relies on Paswan community votes in several constituencies in central and eastern Uttar Pradesh.
However, the Paswan family is not in a mood to clash with the BJP over the issue and the LJP leaders may soon meet to take the final call, stated the report.
If Chirag refuses to move out, he might get support from parties from Bihar and that could turn the situation more ugly. Former Bihar chief minister and HAM leader Jitan Ram Majhi had already demanded that 12, Janpath bungalow be converted into a memorial for Ram Vilas Paswan.