Maharashtra ministers Sudhir Mungantiwar and Vinod Tawde, the sources said, have been fighting over the prime Devgiri, Malabar Hill bungalow.

Mumbai: It has been two months since Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government in Maharashtra was sworn-in but two senior cabinet ministers — Sudhir Mungantiwar and Vinod Tawde — are yet to move into their official bungalows.

According to sources, the allotment of official bungalows for the two ministers has been put on hold. The ministers, the sources said, have been fighting over the prime Devgiri, Malabar Hill bungalow.

Earlier occupied by senior NCP leader and former deputy chief minister of Maharashtra Ajit Pawar, Mungantiwar and Tawde are keen on having the Devgiri bungalow. “Because of this, no decision has been taken by the CM on allotting the bungalows to them,” said a government official who deals with the allotment of the residential bungalows to ministers.

The officials added that Mungantiwar had earlier even made a formal request to Fadnavis asking for the Devgiri bungalow.

Following the cabinet expansion last month, the government residences have been allotted to rest of the ministers including ministers from Shiv Sena. The general administration department headed by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis usually allots the officials residences to the ministers.

While Fadnavis has been allotted two bungalows — the 12,000-sq ft Varsha, his official residence, and the adjoining Shivneri for officials purposes, the senior cabinet minister Eknath Khadse has been allotted Ramtek bungalow, which is the largest bungalow after Varsha.

The official added that at present only two bungalows — Devgiri and Seva Sadan — of the cabinet minister’s status are left in the Malbar Hill area. "We had sent a list of all the vacant bungalows to the chief minister's office before the last allotment of bungalows was done. However, CM has put the allotment of these two bungalows on hold. There is a tussle between the ministers and he will have to sort it out," a senior bureaucrat said.

While Mungatiwar has been using his personal flat in the Worli for the past few months, Tawde has been using the official bungalow in Nariman Point, which was alloted to him when he was the leader of opposition in the legislative council.

A source close to Tawde denied the allegations and said the two ministers were not having any issue of accommodation. "We will take any bungalow allotted to us but the decision has not been taken by the CM yet," he said.

According to sources, Mungantiwar will only occupy the bungalow after a decision on liquor ban in his home district, Chandrapur, is taken by the state cabinet. It is likely to be taken in another week.

Even though the state government can have a maximum of 42 ministers, it has only 33 bungalows that can be allotted as official residences to ministers. Out of these, 19 are in Malabar Hill, the most sought after address among ministers, while the rest are located around Mantralaya in Nariman Point.

"While these bungalows have similar amenities, it's their see facing location in Malabar Hill and the status of previous occupants that have led to the tussle among the BJP ministers," said the bureaucrat adding that once more members are inducted in the cabinet, there would be a bigger fight.

The ministers who are left out would be accommodated in plush apartments such as Suruchi and Suniti in Nariman Point and in Ambar-Awanti in Churchgate, he said.