He keeps the Prime Minister’s house in order and asserts that “Manmohan Singh is an honest person”. He is concerned about corruption and equally worried about the way the Anna Hazare supporters laid siege to his rented house in which he has been living for the last four years.
TS Kalra, a retired businessman, has been staying in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s house in Sector-11 Chandigarh for four years now. Ask him about the PM, about his house, his meetings or interactions with him, he flashes an amicable smile.
Singh’s functioning has lately come under intense scrutiny with scams after scams hitting the Congress-led UPA Government hard. Aspersions have also been cast on Manmohan Singh.
Dismissing these as mere political gimmicks, Kalra says that “his honesty makes me feel proud to be his tenant”.
Where 80-plus Kalra was reluctant to reveal “anything”, his neighbours are wee-bit more forthcoming when it comes to discussing the “feeling of being Prime Minister’s tenant”.
With the crusade against corruption continuing across nation, the private residence of Prime Minister in the city has witnessed a flurry of activity by the protesting pro-Hazare group in the last one week.
The octogenarian is disturbed but unlike any other tenants, he has no complaints against the protesters agitating outside his house. Like any other common man, Kalra is also supporting the cause and considers himself as an ally in the anti-graft campaign.
“Being a supporter of this ongoing fight against corruption, Kalra is also an admirer of Anna Hazare,” asserts one of the neighbours of Kalra while talking to The Pioneer, adding that he usually discusses things with them.
“He is living here for the last four years, with his wife Kuldip. With the Prime Minister under onslaught this time, his tenants occupying the private residence are bearing the brunt. However, this time also, rather than evincing his dilemma over the same, Kalra has maintained his calm and has been a silent onlooker during the protests outside his house,” shares another neighbour.
With a market value of around `1crore, as per PM’s declaration, the house has three bedrooms, surrounded by a green cover. Though the house gives somewhat forsaken-look from the outside, it is unimaginably beautifully-maintained from inside-with artifacts, showpieces from across the globe, gracing every nook and cranny.
Inquisitive about the rent of the “PM’s house”, the neighbour said. “We don’t know... They never revealed this. But once, Mrs Kalra mentioned that they pay through cheque to a lady who has the power of attorney to this house.”
Divulging a little more, the neighbour adds, “When they came here, they didn’t know its PM’s house. Every time they tell their address to anyone, they reassert ‘the PM’s house’. They were earlier staying in the next lane. But, they were oblivious to the fact that they would soon be entering the PM’s house, while responding to a classified ad in a paper.”
Despite the house No 727 being the cynosure of all eyes in the ongoing protest, Kalra would not open out on whether he has ever met the Prime Minister in person. He just smiled.
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