NEW DELHI: Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri was on Tuesday locked into a bitter Twitter war with Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra over eviction notice to the Lutyens’ bungalow which the latter currently occupies. Puri alleged that a “powerful” Congress leader had “requested” him to allot the Lodhi Estate residence to another Congress leader so that Priyanka can continue to stay on despite the eviction notice.
Puri said this in response to a previous tweet from Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in which she called such report as “fake news”.
The Housing and Urban Development Minister tweeted, ”A powerful Congress leader with much clout in the Party called me on 4 July 2020 at 12:05 pm to request that 35, Lodhi Estate be allotted to another INC MP so that Priyanka Vadra can stay on. Let’s not sensationalise everything please.”
Calling media report as “fake news”, the Congress leaeder sad that she had not requested the government to grant her extension. She said that media reports that she had been granted an extension are baseless and wrong. Priyanka also confirmed that she was indeed abiding by the eviction notice.
”If someone called you Mr Puri, I thank them for their concern, and thank you for your consideration as well but it still does not change the facts: I have made no such request, and I am making no such request. As I said, I will be vacating the house by the 1st of August..,” Priyanka had tweeted.
Responding to Priyanka’s tweet, Puri tweeted again, ”The leader who called me and many others, is at the very top of the Congress hierarchy…the same political advisor who speaks and acts on your family’s behalf. It was when he requested that we decided to give a two-month extension in good faith.”
A media report emerged on Monday claiming that Priyanka had got approval from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an extended stay at the 35, Lodhi Estate bungalow in New Delhi though she has been served an eviction notice to vacate the address by end of July.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development had last week slapped a notice on Priyanka to vacate the Lutyens’ bungalow before August 1 since she does not come under the ‘Special Protection Group’ security cover anymore.
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