Complying with SC order, ex-CMs Mayawati, Akhilesh Yadav vacate official bungalows

BSP chief Mayawati today vacated the “portion” of the 13-A Mall Avenue bungalow she had been occupying just before the end of the deadline given by Uttar Pradesh estates department. She said the bungalow has already been declared a “memorial” to Bahujan Samaj Party founder Kanshi Ram through a UP cabinet decision in 2011, and its security and maintenance now will now be the state government's responsibility. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav)

Samajwadi Party National President Akhilesh Yadav along with wife Dimple Yadav and kids on way to VVIP guest House after vacating his official residence from Vikrmaditya Marg in Lucknow on Saturday. (Express Photo/Pix Arranged from Akhilesh Yadav office)

The UP government order followed a Supreme Court verdict on May 7 that former chief ministers were not allowed government bungalows. Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav too have vacated their official residences and shifted to bungalows located at Sultanpur Road. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav)

"I am today vacating the portion of 13-A, Mall Avenue occupied by me till now,” she told reporters. From now on the entire bungalow in Lucknow will be 'Shri Kanshi Ram Ji Yadgar Vishram Sthal', the memorial named after Kanshi Ram," Mayawati told reporters. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav)

Mayawati invited the media to tour the premises, she said the exhibits there were related to Kanshi Ram and "his one and only inheritor Mayawati, as per his will."(Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav)

In a rare gesture, she also took journalists for a tour of her official residence and showed them rooms and halls where BSP founder Kanshiram had stayed during his visit to the city. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav)

The BSP chief claimed she was aware of the pressure on the media to play up the issue to divert the people's attention from the drubbing suffered by the ruling BJP in the recent bypolls. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav)