After a three-decade hiatus, the state's Public Works Department (PWD) finds itself in the position of establishing an official residence once again. This accommodation is necessary to house yet another Deputy Chief Minister (DCM) during the upcoming winter session.
Now, he needs an official residence in Nagpur, which is the state’s second capital. The PWD, responsible for managing official residences, currently possesses only one Deputy Chief Minister (DCM) bungalow in the city. The opulent colonial-era Deogiri bungalow, situated at Civil Lines, will be assigned to Fadnavis, who serves as both the Deputy Chief Minister and occupies the DCM position. Interestingly, Pawar's residence in Mumbai shares the same name, Deogiri.
The bungalow named Vijaygadh, previously occupied by the Joint Commissioner of Police and located near Deogiri, will now be designated as Pawar's official residence in Nagpur. In order to accommodate this change, the police official has been relocated to an alternative residence. The Public Works Department (PWD) is working diligently to renovate and upgrade the Vijaygadh bungalow to meet the standards befitting the Deputy Chief Minister's stature, with the aim of completing the process by November 30.
According to a report of TOI, It will be all done at a modest expenditure of around Rs 45 lakh, said sources. There have been instructions from Pawar’s office to keep it simple and not use any expensive material for the makeover, said a source. Across the road is the home of his former party colleague and ex-home minister Anil Deshmukh who remains in the Sharad Pawar faction.
In a surprise move on July 2nd NCP leader Ajit Pawar who was also the Maharashtra Leader of Opposition joined the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in Maharashtra and took oath as Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister. The move by NCP chief Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar, which also saw eight other NCP MLAs joining the Shinde-Fadnavis government, came amid efforts by opposition parties to forge unity to take on the BJP in the next year's Lok Sabha polls