Rabri Devi is allowed to leave the official bungalow after a month of Kharmas

After receiving a notice from the State Building Construction Department on November 25, the videos of pick-up vans carrying household belongings and flower pots leaving former Chief Minister Rabri Devi’s official bungalow 10, Circular Road, which she has retained since 2005 and lives with her family, suggest that the holiday process has begun quietly.

Ms Devi had earlier been allotted Bungalow 39 on Hardinge Road in her capacity as Opposition Leader in the State Legislative Council, but RJD leaders had said Ms Devi would not vacate the current bungalow “come what may”.

Party sources, meanwhile, said Ms Devi might move from her residence after the inauspicious month Charmas in January. Mrs. Devi, whose ailing husband Lalu Prasad, who is also a former chief minister of the state and leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal party, lives in the bungalow along with other family members. It had recently come to light that Mr Prasad is building a palatial house in Mahuabagh locality in Patna and party sources say he is likely to shift his residential address there and not to his wife’s allotted official residence. Photos of the home under construction are going viral on social media.

Earlier, RJD state president Mangani Lal Mandal had claimed that Ms Devi would not leave her current bungalow, where she has been living for the past two decades, “at any cost”. Mr Mandal also called the government’s decision “an act of political malice against party chief Lau Prasad”. Also, their (Mr. Prasad and Mrs. Rabri Devi) Singapore-based daughter Rohini Acharya, in a social media post, had accused the Nitish Kumar government of “insulting her family to insult Lalu Prasad, the messiah of millions” and also urged the government to “respect the political status and health of Lalu Prasad”.

However, late in the evening of December 25, three to four pick-up vans carrying household belongings and flower pots were captured on video leaving Ms Rabri Devi’s house, prompting speculation that “the process of vacating the bungalow may have begun quietly”.

On November 25, the Building Construction Department of the NDA government had issued a notice to Ms Devi to vacate her bungalow. However, no timeline was given. Building Construction Department Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said the new allotment for Ms Devi “has enough space and is for senior officials”.

The government has also issued a notice to Mr Prasad and Ms Devi’s estranged eldest son, Tej Pratap Yadav, who lost the last assembly election in Mahua constituency in Vaishali district where he had contested as a candidate of his own party Janshakti Janata Dal (JJD). Mr Yadav has been asked to vacate his government-allocated residence 26-M Strand Road, which has now been allotted to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) Welfare Minister Lakhendra Kumar Raushan.

“Let’s see when and how much time they take to vacate their official bungalows… they have to vacate because it is a government notice imposed on them as per the rules and regulations,” a state BJP leader said on condition of anonymity.