New Delhi:
It's an eviction operation that has left many former MPs red faced but what does one do when politicians refuse to give up their homes despite losing in elections?
At a time when there is so much talk about austerity, the government has been forced to spend over 40 lakhs over the last three months to accommodate newly elected MPs while there to-be-homes remain occupied.
Operation Eviction in New Delhi's political quarters at the official houses of former MPs who have lost the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha polls but have not yet packed up.
Eviction is usually the last step. The Directorate of Estate says they had served several notices to the MPs. But the MPs did not cooperate.
As of June 13, 36 MPs were illegally holding on to their flats and bungalows.
A persistent Directorate of Estate made about half of them leave but the rest refused to budge and now are being hauled out.
Encroaching political quarters:- June 13, 2009: 36 MPs
- August 10, 2009: 17 MPs
The eviction of former Republican Party of India MP Ramdas Athavle's quarters turned ugly here in Mumbai where his supporters vandalised the new Congress office Sonia Gandhi had inaugurated last week.
"Congress is trying to target and sabotage my efforts to unite the Third Front. Congress evacuated me from my Delhi house. Now, I will evacuate the Congress from Maharashtra," said Ramdas Athavale, RPI leader.
The list of defaulters is a literal hall of shame considering it features so many veterans of Indian politics.
Encroaching political quarters: - Ramvilas Paswan
- Jagdish Tytler
- Renuka Chowdhary
- Shankarsinh Vaghela
- PR Dashmunshi
- Manishankar Iyer
- Akhilesh Prasad Singh
- Ramdas Athavle
- Jaiprakash Narayan Yadav
- Yerran Naidu
- S M Subbalakshmi
- Vinod Khanna
- Taslimuddin
- Suryakant Patil
- Chanjit Chatwal
- SN Gadhwale
- Salim
Their encroachment of official quarters has meant that the new government has had to house new MPs in hotels and guest houses for the last three months - a stop-gap arrangement that has already cost Rs 40,86,600.
Austerity and Indian politics is indeed an unwilling marriage.