New Delhi: Samajwadi Party (SP) has strongly criticised the eviction procedure against its MP Neeraj Shekhar, over which there was an uproar on Monday in Rajya Sabha, with party leader Ram Gopal Yadav saying that such an action was "deplorable" and had never happened before.
Neeraj, son of former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, is facing eviction from his current 3, South Avenue Lane bungalow after he lost in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections.
Although he was thereafter elected to Rajya Sabha last month, he has been asked to vacate the accommodation he was allotted as a member of the Lower House.
"He (Neeraj) was eligible for that House for two-terms as a Lok Sabha Member but was declared not eligible in his third term (as a Rajya Sabha MP). This has never happened. Those who are doing it have occupied the big bungalows in their first term," Yadav said outside Parliament.
The eviction issue had been earlier in the day raised in the Upper House by SP MP Jaya Bachchan and was taken up by her party's legislators.
Making an appeal on sentimental grounds, Neeraj said, "The house was alloted to my father and since then I have been staying here. I am attached to it emotionally. My father stayed there for 40 years, my mother for 30 years. That is why I am requesting them to allow me to stay there."
The Type-VII bungalow has now been alloted to BJP MP BS Yeddyurappa.
"They are saying the house has been alloted to Yeddyurappa. Yeddyurappa is a senior leader, he can be given any house," said Neeraj, even as he announced that he would take up the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"I would like to meet the PM and request him. If my request is turned down by him (Modi), then I would vacate it (the house). That is why I was seeking time, so that I can approach the PM.
"Today, they have come to evict me and I want some more time," he said.
Neeraj met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today and sought that the evacuation process be put on hold. He said he has not yet been allotted a house from the Rajya Sabha pool.
Asked whether he wanted to convert the present residence into a memorial, Neeraj said "No, I just want to stay there. I had written for the memorial, but after it was turned down, I have never asked for it again."
He said he had written to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the then PM Manmohan Singh regarding the proposal after he had become an MP for the first time.
"I have also written to Modi about the memorial. But since it was turned down,I do not want it (the house) for the memorial and nor do I have any plans of bringing in people for demonstrations."
