Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday hit out at a media report calling it “fake news” that she had requested the Narendra Modi government to retain her bungalow in Delhi’s Lodhi Estate for some time.

A news agency had on Monday reported that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has agreed to a request to allow Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to retain the 35, Lodhi Estate Bungalow for some time.

Advertisement

The report claimed that “when the matter [of Priyanka’s bungalow] was brought to Modi’s notice, he said that her request most certainly be accepted”.

In response to the report, Priyanka tweeted, “This is FAKE NEWS. I have not made any such request to the government. As per the eviction letter handed to me on the 1st of July, I will be vacating the government accommodation at 35 Lodhi Estate by the 1st of August.”

Priyanka Gandhi’s husband Robert Vadra also posted a denial on Facebook and said the family would leave a week before the deadline.

“This is completely incorrect!! We have not asked for any extension of stay. We were sent a notice on the 1st of July to leave in 30 days. We at a time of “Covid” have packed our entire household, and will leave a week before time,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, reacting to Priyanka’s tweet, Union Minister for Civil Aviation and Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri in a tweet said that a “powerful Congress leader had called him on July 4 requesting that the bungalow Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has to vacate be allotted to a Congress MP so she could stay on”.

The Congress leader responded to the tweet saying she has made no such request and asserted that she will be vacating the bungalow by August 1 as required in the eviction letter.

The Government had on July 1 asked Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi to vacate her government accommodation at 35 Lodhi Estate within a month since she is no longer a Special Protection Group (SPG) protectee.

After being served the eviction notice by the government, sources close to Priyanka Gandhi said that she would vacate the house within the stipulated time period.

The action invited massive criticism from the opposition with the Congress terming the Union government’s decision as a “frustrated attempt”.

Targeting the BJP-led Centre, NCP President Sharad Pawar on Monday said that the move to evict Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from her government residence in Delhi is a “display of NDA government’s arrogance of power”.

“We must remember that the Nehru-Gandhi family has dedicated its life for the country. Jawaharlal Nehru made immense contribution to India’s freedom struggle and put it on the path of democracy. His daughter Indira Gandhi and grandson Rajiv Gandhi sacrificed their lives for the country. Priyanka is from the same family,” said Pawar.

Even after Rajiv Gandhi’s death, his wife Sonia Gandhi built the party and though there may be political differences, “that doesn’t mean that you can misuse the power to harass someone; that’s not wise or honourable,” the Nationalist Congress Party leader said.