Patna, Nov. 23: Three newly elected MLAs have jumped the gun to "claim" bungalows in Patna even before the allotment of government accommodation officially begins for the new lawmakers.
According to the rules and established convention, government sources said, the Speaker of the Assembly sanctions the bungalows which are then allotted to MLAs by the building construction department. An outgoing MLA can live in his official residence for a month after losing elections, and a minister for three months after losing his position.
But three incoming legislators - Arun Kumar Yadav and Anil Kumar Yadav of the RJD and R.N. Singh of the JDU - have not bothered with such trivial details. They have already staked their claim on bungalows not yet vacated by outgoing legislators, confident that they will be allotted the very bungalows they desire.
The Telegraph today noticed the nameplate of Arun Kumar Yadav, the new MLA from Saharsa, at the 10 South Bailey Road house that was allotted to Manjeet Singh of the JDU who lost his Baikunthpur seat in Gopalganj district in the recently concluded polls.
Manjeet, who in the previous Assembly had stoutly stood behind chief minister Nitish Kumar against an aggressive BJP, was not impressed.
"Last night my staff informed me that some people had replaced my nameplate from the house," Manjeet told The Telegraph. "The newly elected MLA should have waited for allotment in his name rather than resorting to occupying the bungalow on his own. It is painful for me. I don't bother about the loss of my house. What I bother about is what will happen to Nitish ji's susashan (good governance)."
A miffed Manjeet vacated the bungalow and shifted to his own house in the Kautilya Nagar area in Patna this afternoon.
Asked why he had put up his nameplate on a house not yet allotted to him, Arun said, "I had spoken to Manjeet. He had suggested I put up my nameplate. There is nothing wrong with what I have done. I have done it in anticipation of procuring the allotment in my name."
Manjeet, however, denied that Arun had spoken to him.
Similarly at 8 Off Bailey Road, the nameplate of Anil Kumar Yadav of the RJD, who won the election from Narpatganj in Araria, had already replaced that of Indradeo Manjhi of the BJP, who lost the polls from Bhore in Gopalganj.
When contacted, Anil said: "I had many patients from my constituency coming to me. I have got the house to use it for the patients. I have already written about it to the Assembly secretariat. I hope that the house will be allotted to me."
This newspaper could not find any patient when it visited the bungalow, located near the one in which new finance minister Abdul Bari Siddiqui lives.
R.N. Singh, JDU MLA from Parbatta, has installed his nameplate at the 15 Hardinge Road bungalow that was home to party colleague Rahul Sharma, who lost the election from Ghosi Assembly seat in Jehanabad district.
An uncle of Rahul present at the bungalow said: "Last night till 10pm, there was no nameplate. I asked the security guard to close the gate when we were going to sleep. This morning I saw the nameplate of R.N. Singh. It was really shocking for me; how can someone do this before we have vacated the house?"
R.N. Singh was not available for comment des-pite repeated attempts to contact him.
The new building construction minister, Tejaswi Yadav, who took charge of his departments today, was more easily accessible. "The newly elected MLAs would be allotted bungalows according to the norms," is all that the deputy chief minister said.
