Home is where the power is

Bric-a-brac

times & mimes

 

Home is where the power is
CMs’ dilli sojourn

 

Chief Ministers have palatial bungalows, with all the trappings of power but they still remain unsatisfied. That is until they get an equally big bungalow in Lutyens Delhi from where flows the political power which keeps them in the hot seat. Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, who was earlier Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s office, thus continues to have a bungalow next to the Prime Minister’s office. He comes to Delhi every Friday night and leaves only on Monday morning. His wife was here till recently and now his children stay here. So attached is Chavan to Delhi (he is also called the Chief Minister who is on deputation to Maharashtra) that recently he held the engagement of his daughter in his Delhi house. Then there is Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who is now in his second term. Hooda has retained his bungalow on Pandit Pant Marg, reportedly because this allows him to make the rounds of important power centres in the Capital. Similarly, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, who was an MP before he became Chief Minister, has retained his bungalow in the Capital and uses it whenever he is there. The same is the case with Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who is now in his third term as Chief Minister. These are all powerful men who have no fear of the estates department, which is forever scrounging around for bungalows to give to serving MPs.