New Delhi: The BJP government has allotted former president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam's bungalow to BJP leader and Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma, who had recently courted a controversy by calling the late leader a 'nationalist despite being a Muslim'.


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Reports on Wednesday claimed that Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party has strongly objected to the Centre's decision of allotting Kalam's bungalow to BJP loudmouth Sharma.


Sharma had recently called Kalam 'a great man who was a nationalist and humanist despite being a Muslim', triggering a severe backlash from the Opposotion parties including Congress.


Former president Kalam used to live in the bungalow no 10, a Type VIII category residence, located at Rajaji Marg.


Kalam's bungalow will be vacated by October 31 and all his belongings have already been packed, as per reports.


A senior journalist from Tamil Nadu, Bhagwan Singh, has already filed a petition on Change.org asking Kalam's home to be turned into a Knowledge Centre.


The Change.org petition titled 'Don't Insult Dr. Abdul Kalam! Make his Delhi home a Knowledge Centre' describes "Thousands of Dr. Kalam's books and documents that he worked on through his life, the Veena that he often played, are being boxed up, so that Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma, who has been in the news recently for his sexist and discriminatory comments, can move in."


It asks for the bungalow to be instead converted into a knowledge centre or a museum.


As per central government rules, a Type VIII bungalow of this size is allotted only to cabinet ministers or those holding cabinet ranks. However, as a Minister of State and a first-time MP, Sharma is not entitled to it, as per rules.