Eight of 10 former ministers from the BJP in Bihar are set to begin looking for new accommodation for themselves as the state’s Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) government on Wednesday asked them to vacate their ministerial bungalows in Patna.
The Bihar government’s building construction department served notices to these former ministers asking them to vacate the sprawling bungalows they are currently occupying within the next seven days. The government’s move is set to heighten the already raging hostilities between the JD(U) and its former ruling ally BJP, which became Bihar’s main Opposition party after the JD(U) snapped its 17-year-old ties with it on June 16 and removed all the ten BJP ministers from the state cabinet.
“The notices were served to these former ministers as per the rules because they have overstayed in their official bungalows by more than a month. The rules stipulate that former ministers can occupy the ministerial bungalows only for a month after they stop being members of the state cabinet,” said building construction department’s estate officer Vinod Chaudhary.
While all the ten ministerial berths vacated by the BJP leaders remain vacant for over the past two months and Nitish Kumar has been delaying a cabinet expansion despite rising pressures, the government’s drive to vacate “unauthorised use of ministerial bungalows” raised the BJP’s heckles.