Maha govt issues LoI for acquiring Ambedkar house in London

 Maharashtra government has issued a letter of intent to India's High Commissioner to the UK for acquiring the 2,050 sq ft three-storey house in London where Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar once lived, Education Minister Vinod Tawde said here today.

Tawde, who visited the house recently, said the state government will acquire it through the High Commissioner adding, the house is of cultural and national importance.

Tawde had earlier spoken to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis following which the decision was taken to buy the house that was on the block for Rs 35 crores.

Earlier this month, Mumbai unit BJP president Ashish Shelar had written to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley seeking Prime Minister's intervention to acquire the house.

"This is an emotional issue for Ambedkar followers and the people of Maharashtra," he had said.
Former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan had also made a request to the Union government to buy the property.

"Towards the end of my term, we had asked the Centre to buy this mansion. It's an international transaction and could have only been carried out by the Union government. I do not know what happened later," Chavan had said.