Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury's belongings were moved out of the government bungalow today.
Ten policemen stood and watched as an officer of the Directorate of Estates -- under the Urban Development Ministry -- politely tried convincing Congress lawmaker Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury to vacate the government bungalow he occupied till this morning.
Mr Chowdhury -- a fourth term member of Parliament from Murshidabad in West Bengal - had moved into the bungalow meant for ministers in Chanakyapuri's New Moti Bagh housing complex when he became a junior minister of Railways in 2012.
Last year, on January 22, he was allotted a different accommodation. But Mr Chowdhury claimed that the house was already "occupied" by another person when he went to inspect it.
"What is this joke? They allotted me a bungalow when someone was already staying there. I have never said that this is my paternal property but they should allot me a house that is liveable," Mr Choudhury told a handful of journalists who had turned up to ask him about a possible Congress-Left alliance ahead of the assembly polls in Bengal.
As Mr Choudhury briefed journalists, his staff looked for clues. Should they start moving out the furniture or wait? "This government has been displaying dictatorial attitude ever since I protested against them in the Lok Sabha. This is vendetta politics," thundered the lawmaker, whose electricity connection had been snapped by the officials. Mr Chowdhury was suspended last year during the monsoon session of Parliament by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan for protesting in the well of the House.
When it became clear that the officials were determined to evict him, Mr Choudhury's staff started moving out his furniture. One by one, they brought it all out: a wooden sofa with light blue cushions, a centre table with a glass top, photo frames, a portrait of Swami Vivekananda and a group photo of the 15th Lok Sabha. By now furious, Mr Chowdhury, before walking out, said: "I am leaving all this in their custody and if anything is lost or stolen, they will be responsible."