Bungalow ‘damage’: Hate, jealousy behind allegations, says Akhilesh Yadav

READ | Reveal source of money used to renovate govt bungalow before I-T does: UP minister tells Akhilesh

Akhilesh questioned the presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s officer on special duty (OSD) Abhishek Kaushik and his secretary, Mrityunjay Narayan, at the bungalow soon after he had vacated it. He said: “Was it some drug addict who did something? Who came before you (the media was let in after the house was vacated). Was the chief minister’s OSD Abhishek there or not? Did IAS Mrityunjay Narayan come there in an Innova car or not?… Abhishek was there and was shooting with his phone.”

In pictures | Inside Akhilesh Yadav’s ‘damaged’ bungalow

Akhilesh maintained that the bungalow’s wooden flooring and “everything else” was intact. He said photographs were taken of a single corner in a way that it looks as if the entire bungalow had been damaged.

He said, “It is said people are blind in love, but I have seen how much blind they can be in anger and jealousy. This is jealousy and hate. Is even a single thing broken in my bedroom? Or anything broken in the rooms of my children or my wife?”

View of different rooms and sites of former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and Samajwadi party National President Akhilesh Yadav’s official residence at Vikrmaditya Marg in Lucknow. (Express photo by Vishal Srivastav)

He claimed some pink stones and a broken faucet were shown on some channel and wondered whether they were planted.

Akhilesh said there was no question of damaging any swimming pool since none existed on the bungalow premises. “Over the last some years, around a thousand children have come to my house… we have celebrated birthdays of my children. Ask those children whether there was ever a swimming pool.”

Akhilesh claimed he had purchased the fittings, among other things, he is accused of taking away from the bungalow.

He said he had installed nets on both sides of the chief minister’s residence. “The government should show me the bill for them. If the government does not have the bill, then they should return me the nets,’’ he said. He said there could be a conspiracy behind forcing him and BSP chief Mayawati to vacate their bungalows. “I am being targeted as the BJP has a problem that SP and BSP are now in a coalition…”

Addressing the media later, state minister Sidharth Nath Singh asked Akhilesh to reveal the source of the money he claims to have spent on the bungalow’s beautification. “Where did he get the money from? Who gave it to him?” He said Akhilesh should respond before the income tax department asks him these questions. Singh asked what was hidden behind the walls broken before the SP chief vacated the bungalow. He said that Akhilesh “did not act like an educated member of a respectful society.”