HD Kumaraswamy swearing-in bills

HD Kumaraswamy swearing-in bills- Chandrababu Naidu Rs 8.7Lakhs, Arvind Kejriwal Rs 1.85Lakhs, Kamalahasan Rs.1.02Lakhs




Chandrababu Naidu ran up a bill of Rs 8.7 lakh 

Arvind Kejriwal Rs 1.85 lakh
Kamalahasan - Rs 1,02,040
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

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.

State Hospitality Organisation did not provide details on the money spent to provide accommodation for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

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.

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.

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 Siddaramaiahon May 13, 2013 and BS Yeddyurappa on May 17, 2018.