‘Aam Aadmi’ Arvind Kejriwal ran up a bill for in-room dining, food/juices of Rs 71,025 and 5,000 for beverages

10/08/2018 inquilabtimes

No money for loan waiver, pourakarmikas, projects but You might want to sit as you read this. Leaders invited by Janata Dal (S) for the swearing-in ceremony of Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, seem to have celebrated more than Kumaraswamy himself.
Were they perhaps celebrating the formation of the Third Front already? Because nothing explains these figures: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu checked into the Taj West End on May 23 at 9.49 am and checked out on May 24 at 05.34 am and ran up a bill of Rs 8,72,485. ‘Aam Aadmi’ Arvind Kejriwal, who checked into the Taj West End on May 23 at 9.49 am and checked out on May 24 at 5.34 am ran up a bill for in-room dining, food/juices of Rs 71,025 and 5,000 for beverages, on the night he arrived (a window of just about 2 hours). Those mind-boggling figures make us wonder out aloud, what did he eat and drink?
The seven-minute swearing in ceremony had cost the Karnataka government Rs 42 lakh, as revealed by a RTI reply accessed by an activist but the break-up was not available till now. And the money has flowed out of your account, dear tax payer, without as much as a by-your-leave.
According to the documents available with Bangalore Mirror, the State Hospitality Organisation, Government of Karnataka did not spend any money to provide accommodation to the guests who attended the swearing-in ceremony of Siddaramaiah on May 13, 2013 and BS Yeddyurappa on May 17, 2018. However, the State Hospitality Organisation has spent Rs 37,53,536 to provide accommodation and food at two five star hotels—Taj West End and Shangri La—on May 23 and 24 and Rs 4,35,001 on hi-tea buffet organized at Vidhana Soudha Banquet Hall on May 23. The tea and snacks were supplied by Taj West End, Bengaluru.
Forty-two top leaders, including non-BJP chief ministers, were invited to attend the swearing-in ceremony of H D Kumaraswamy and Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara. At Rs 8,72,485 (in four invoices), Naidu cost Karnataka the most.
Movie star-turned-politician Kamal Haasan ran up a bill of Rs 1,02,040 for his stay at the Taj West End.
Were they perhaps celebrating the formation of the Third Front already? Because nothing explains these figures: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu checked into the Taj West End on May 23 at 9.49 am and checked out on May 24 at 05.34 am and ran up a bill of Rs 8,72,485. ‘Aam Aadmi’ Arvind Kejriwal, who checked into the Taj West End on May 23 at 9.49 am and checked out on May 24 at 5.34 am ran up a bill for in-room dining, food/juices of Rs 71,025 and 5,000 for beverages, on the night he arrived (a window of just about 2 hours). Those mind-boggling figures make us wonder out aloud, what did he eat and drink?
The seven-minute swearing in ceremony had cost the Karnataka government Rs 42 lakh, as revealed by a RTI reply accessed by an activist but the break-up was not available till now. And the money has flowed out of your account, dear tax payer, without as much as a by-your-leave.
According to the documents available with Bangalore Mirror, the State Hospitality Organisation, Government of Karnataka did not spend any money to provide accommodation to the guests who attended the swearing-in ceremony of Siddaramaiah on May 13, 2013 and BS Yeddyurappa on May 17, 2018. However, the State Hospitality Organisation has spent Rs 37,53,536 to provide accommodation and food at two five star hotels—Taj West End and Shangri La—on May 23 and 24 and Rs 4,35,001 on hi-tea buffet organized at Vidhana Soudha Banquet Hall on May 23. The tea and snacks were supplied by Taj West End, Bengaluru.
Forty-two top leaders, including non-BJP chief ministers, were invited to attend the swearing-in ceremony of H D Kumaraswamy and Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara. At Rs 8,72,485 (in four invoices), Naidu cost Karnataka the most.
Movie star-turned-politician Kamal Haasan ran up a bill of Rs 1,02,040 for his stay at the Taj West End.

Here’s how much the State Hospitality Organisation spent on dignitaries:

Former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav: Rs 1,02,400
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati: Rs 1,41,443
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan: Rs 1,02,400
Congress leader Ashok Gehlot: Rs 1,02,400
CPM leader Sitaram Yechury: Rs 64,000
Former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren: Rs 38,400
NCP leader Sharad Pawar: Rs 64,000
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi: Rs 38,400
Former Jharkhand CM Babulal Marandi: Rs 45,952

However, the State Hospitality Organisation did not provide details on the money spent to provide accommodation for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The extravagance of the dignitaries has no doubt brought out strong reactions from prominent citizens of Bengaluru. Coming down heavily on the state government, former Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde said it should not have allowed such wasteful expenditure. “The state government has been claiming that it has no money to take up developmental projects. It is the responsibility of the political party, which invited these leaders, to bear the expenses. The state government should have accommodated the invitees at its guest houses in Bengaluru,” says Justice Hegde.
Freedom fighter HS Doreswamy was shocked when informed about the wasteful expenditure during the swearing-in ceremony. “The dignitaries should have thought twice before wasting money. They should have realised that they are not supposed to feast on others’ money. It is very unfortunate that neither the invitees nor their hosts thought of utilising the tax-payers’ money prudently,” says Doreswamy.

Coming to the defence of Arvind Kejriwal, Prithvi Reddy, Convener of AAP Karnataka, said that the State Government need not pay the expenses. “It is the responsibility of the political party that invited him for the function. The state government is the guardian of tax-payers’ money and it should not allow wasteful expenditure,’’ said Prithvi Reddy.
Reacting strongly to these excesses, BJP spokesperson Ashwath Narayana said these leaders were invited with a vested interest. “Deve Gowda wanted to use the opportunity to become the leader of the Third Front. If Deve Gowda has any conscience, arrangements should be made to pay the amount (Rs 42 lakh) to the state exchequer from Janata Dal (S) bank account. JD (S) leaders have no moral right to speak about austerity measures to strengthen the state’s finances.’’
The details of excesses have shocked citizen activists too. Sridhar Pabbisetty, CEO, Namma Bengaluru Foundation, said, “The government should have spent this money on improving the crippling infrastructure of the city and also focus on paying salaries to the pourakarmikas. It is high time that the government put an end to this unnecessary expenditure and concentrate on improving the living condition of our brothers and sisters across the state.”
Clearly, no government guest houses were good enough for a less-than-24-hour stay for our dignitaries. And the food had to be five-star quality. People’s representatives, you say?