Four days before the results came in,the cheque did. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cleared his rental dues in advance for his Guwahati home until 2010. Singh,a tenant of Hemaprabha Saikia,widow of former Assam chief minister Hiteswar Saikia,sent a State Bank of India cheque of Rs 14,400 to her on May 12 which covered his rent for two years,2008-09 as well as 2009-10. Singh has been renting a two-bedroom part-house in the residence of the Saikias at Saru-Matariya,hardly 500 m away from the state secretariat at Dispur,since early 1991. Those days,one had to be an ordinary resident of a particular state in order to contest for the Rajya Sabha from that state. Singh proved himself as one after then chief minister Hiteswar Saikias wife offered the house on rent to him when he was inducted as Finance Minister by then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao. That Rajya Sabha residency qualification was done away with via an amendment in 2003. Still,Singh,whose term in the Rajya Sabha ends in 2013,has kept this house. I was away in Upper Assam campaigning for the Congress when an employee in my sons office called me up to inform me that the Prime Minister had sent a cheque against the house rent, said Hemaprabha Saikia today. She lost the 2006 Assembly election from Nazira,the constituency which her husband had held for long since 1972. The PM also enclosed a letter with the cheque. I have noticed that I have not paid rent for the flat that I have in Guwahati since April 2008. Please find enclosed a cheque,No 173951,of Rs 14,400.00 only as rent for 2008-09 as well as advance rent for 2009-2010, the letter said. We have been charging him a nominal rent of Rs 600 per month for the house. But even if I sometimes forget to keep track of it,the prime minister would himself remind me and send me a cheque, Saikia said. Two years ago,for instance,when Saikia had gone to New Delhi with her sons Debabrata and Ashok to personally deliver him a certified copy of the Guwahati electoral rolls where Singh figured as a voter,the prime minister reminded her of his default and gave her a cheque. It was he who reminded us that his house rent was due, said Debabrata Saikia. Asked if she had any request to make to the PM,Saikia said: I have passed through lot of difficult times since my husbands demise. But I have never bothered or asked for any help from Dr Singh. Singh has never stayed overnight in this house using it for short stop-overs and meeting delegations,said Debabrata Saikia,who keeps the keys. Among the most important things inside the house is a bookshelf. Every time hes here,he goes through some books. Theres also his photograph taken about 30 years ago. Last time,when he was here he asked Sanjaya Baru (his media advisor then) whether he could recognize the young Sardarji in that picture, recalled Debabrata.
