Rahul Gandhi gets notice, told to vacate MP bungalow

The Lok Sabha secretariat on Monday asked former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi to vacate his official residence by April 22, after he was disqualified as a member of the Lok Sabha due to his conviction in a criminal defamation case in Gujarat last week.

The letter, a copy of which HT has seen, said the 12 Tughlak Lane bungalow, allotted to him in 2005 as a member of Parliament, will deem to be cancelled by April 23 – a month after the secretariat issued a notification disqualifying him from the Lower House.

“Consequent upon your disqualification/cessation from the membership of the 17th Lok Sabha with effect from March 23…. I am directed to state that you are allowed to retain bungalow number 12 Tughlak Lane along with its units, in which you have continued to stay as your regular accommodation for a maximum period of one month,” said the letter signed by deputy secretary Mohit Rajan.

After a politician ceases to be a member of either House, the official accommodation allotted to him is withdrawn, but the period of time taken in sending an eviction notice is often much longer. Congress leaders pointed out that some leaders, such as Ghulam Nabi Azad who retired from the Rajya Sabha in 2022, still retain their official bungalow.

“Yes, it could have been served a few days later. But the important thing is that he has been given just one month to vacate,” said former Lok Sabha secretary general P Sreedharan.

Congress leaders close to Gandhi said he will vacate the official bungalow earlier than the deadline. But if his conviction is stayed by a higher court, the party will ask him to retain the residence.

HT reported last Friday that the decision to ask Gandhi to vacate his residence was expected in wake of his disqualification as an MP. The former Congress party chief also runs his office from the residence.

At the Congress plenary in Raipur earlier this year, Gandhi spoke about his unusual relationship with his residence and said that he never had a home as he always stayed in a government accommodation. He had also said he didn’t have a strong attachment to his house.

The Wayanad MP, who was a lawmaker in the Lower House for 19 years, was disqualified on Friday, a day after a Surat court convicted him in a criminal defamation case for a remark he made ahead of the 2019 general elections about the Modi surname. The announcement came via a notification issued by the Lok Sabha secretariat and sparked a wave of condemnation from Opposition parties, including the Congress that said it will launch a mass movement, even as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party said Gandhi had insulted backward groups with his comment.

Under the law, the conviction and two-year jail term renders Gandhi unfit to enter either House of Parliament for a period of eight years. But this can be reversed if he can get the conviction overturned or the sentence reduced to less than two years by a higher court, something his party vowed to do at the earliest.

On Saturday, Gandhi said that the demand for an apology for his remarks and other attacks were aimed to distract from the real issue involving allegations of fraud against the Adani Group. In a press conference, the former Congress president said Prime Minister Narendra Modi “was scared of my next speech in Parliament on Adani”. Gandhi also said his disqualification would help the party.