Vasundhara Raje gets to keep her residence as former CM

 Ex-chief minister Vasundhara Raje can stay at bungalow no 13 at Civil Lines. The general administration department (GAD) on Thursday allotted her the bungalow at free of cost in which she is currently staying.

The order was issued in the continuance of a cabinet secretariat order passed on February 26, 2013 by the Gehlot government. The order says that allotment will under the purview of a writ pending in the Rajasthan high court.

13, Civil Lines was allotted to her as a former chief minister in 2008. She continued to live there and designated it as the chief minister’s residence during the last five years.

The chief minister’s official residence - 8, Civil Lines – was converted into a state guesthouse on the lines of Hyderabad House.

Bhartiya Vahini Party, head Ghanshyam Tiwari, ex-BJP MLA who lost the election from Sanganer, citing the Supreme Court order against life-long possession of government bungalows by former chief ministers had demanded that Raje vacate the residence that she has allegedly occupied in addition to the official residence of the CM. Tiwari submitted a memorandum to Governor Kalyan Singh at Raj Bhawan a couple of months ago.

Notable, the Raje government had got passed the Rajasthan Ministers Salaries (Amendment) Bill, 2017. The bill entitles former chief ministers in the state to a government bungalow for the rest of their lives.