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Union Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani will finally shift to a bigger bungalow at Prithviraj Road from his Pandara Park residence sometime next month for reasons of security.
"I am planning to shift sometime next month," Advani told the Press Trust of India in New Delhi on Republic Day.
Advani has been occupying the Pandara Park house since 1970, when he was first elected to Parliament (the Rajya Sabha). "I have a sentimental attachment to the house," he remarked.
Asked why he was moving, the home minister said other Pandara Park residents were being put to inconvenience on account of his increased security cover following the December 13 terrorist attack on Parliament.
The posh Prithviraj Road bungalow, which was earlier occupied by Union Urban Development Minister Ananth Kumar, is now being 'sanitised'. Special gates with metal detectors and rooms with additional facilities for X-raying baggage are being added, official sources said.
Asked whether he had seen his new house, Advani said, "Only once have I visited it."
Advani, according to intelligence agencies, is high on the hit list of terrorist groups, and has recently been provided a security cover that is next only to that of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Elite commandos of the National Security Guards protect him round-the-clock and traffic is stopped whenever his motorcade passes.
After the attack on Parliament, security agencies also began pressing Advani to shift to a safer bungalow where a tight vigil can be kept.
PTI
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