Phoolka won’t accept ‘Cong-rejected’ house

Chandigarh : Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA and Leader of the Opposition HS Phoolka has been offered a house (No 500) in Sector 16 that the Congress had rejected during the Akali-BJP government’s tenure, saying that the residence was “demeaning” to the stature of the top Opposition leader. Phoolka, who stays at Punjab Bhawan during his visits to the city, has turned down the offer.
The Dakha legislator has been insisting on the allotment of House No 46, Sector 2. It was this residence that the Congress’ Leader of the Opposition had occupied during the past decade. Charanjit Singh Channi, who held this post during the last few months of the SAD-BJP tenure and is now a minister in the Capt Amarinder Singh government, has retained the house.
Phoolka told The Tribune, “It is ironic that the Congress offered the main opposition party’s senior leader an accommodation which it had rejected. This is their ploy to embarrass us and provoke us so that they can call us confrontationist.”
The AAP leader said he didn’t want any special accommodation, but the party would not give up its right. “The Leader of the Opposition has always occupied a house next to the Chief Minister’s,”  he added.
Government sources said no rules had been laid down for allotting a particular house to the Leader of the Opposition. They said AAP leaders had been offered houses in a good condition. Among the Congress leaders, Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu has taken the house meant for the Speaker. Speaker Rana KP Singh had to look for the nearest house available. Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal has refused to take the official accommodation.