The Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav charged the Yogi Adityanth government with hatching a conspiracy to tarnish his image by levelling false allegations against him in over bungalow row.
“I have handed back the bungalow in the same condition when I was allotted. Wooden floors and all other things are intact in the bungalow. Only a part of damaged portion was photographed and showed through the media to defame me. People are talking about swimming pool which was never there in my bungalow,” he alleged.
“I reiterate that I have taken things which belonged to me or I bought with my own money. All other things are intact in the bungalow. Let the government submit me a list of items which are missing. I will return or pay for it,” he said showing two taps in the press conference which he intended to return.
Yadav also took at a dig at the Governor Ram Naik saying that he should discharge his constitutional duties instead of reacting on petty issues. “He is good human being, but the soul of RSS sometime enters into him when he oversteps his constitutional obligations,” commented Yadav.
Read: Socialism 2.0? Akhilesh Yadav accused of taking away ACs, bathroom fittings and Italian marble from official bungalow
“Someone told him that Rs 42 crore have been spent on my bungalow and he related. Let the government and the Estate department probe how much did they spend on my bungalow and what was vandalised there,” said he.
The former Chief Minister also slammed at the media for playing into the hands of the BJP government. “Few channels, photographers and journalists were part of the government’s conspiracy against me. Why didn’t they show bungalows vacated by others,” he charged.
He alleged that the entire script to defame him was written by an OSD of the Chief Minister. He said: “He was seen entering and filming the house after I vacated it. He was the one who had called the media and few officials of the Estate department were party to it."
The bungalow was vacated by the Samajwadi Party leader in compliance with a Supreme Court order that former chief ministers were not entitled to any government accommodation in Lucknow.
Video clips and photos had shown damage to a cycle track, on walls after air-conditioners seemed to have been removed and to the floor of what appeared to be a badminton court at the vacated bungalow.
Yadav had then said it was an attempt by the Bharatiya Janata Party to defame him.
The Governor also called the Estates department officials and was told that videography had been done at the houses vacated by the former chief ministers.
After the video clips surfaced, estates department official Yogesh Kumar Shukla had said officials will check the inventory of fittings provided at the bungalow.
The department will serve a notice if there was any damage done "intentionally" or if there was anything missing, he had said.
The Samajwadi Party had termed the video clips as an attempt to tarnish Yadav's image, saying his popularity was continuously growing after the defeat of the BJP in recent bypolls.
It asked why the bungalows vacated by other former chief ministers were not shown.
As the two parties sparred, the BJP had said the damage at the bungalow reflected Yadav's "frustration".
Following the Supreme Court order, the UP estates department had issued notices to six former chief ministers - Narayan Dutt Tiwari, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Kalyan Singh, Mayawati, Rajnath Singh and Akhilesh Yadav.
Barring Congress veteran ND Tiwari, who is ailing in Delhi, all of them have now vacated their official bungalows.
With inputs from PTI
