Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (MS)

Bengaluru, Aug 10: The expenditure that has run into several lacs of rupees of the dignitaries who attended the swearing-in ceremony of chief minister H D Kumaraswamy and deputy chief minister Dr G Parameshwar has come into sharp criticism in the public arena.

Questions are being raised on social sites about the commitment of Kumaraswamy, who is chanting the mantra of reducing the unnecessary public expenses, as to why the VIPs were provided hospitality of five-star hotels even when government guest houses were available.

The amount spent on the visit of the dignitaries is provided to B S Gowda, a social activist, under the RTI act. Chandrababu Naidu, chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, resided in Taj West End hotel and his bill has run up to Rs 8,72,485. The amount that is spent on the hospitality provided to Aravind Kejriwal, chief minister of Delhi is Rs 1.85 lac. The expenses of former chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Mayavati and Akhilesh Yadav is Rs 1.14 lac and Rs 1.02 lac respectively. JD (U) leader Sharad Yadav, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and cine actor Kamal Hasan have cost the state exchequer Rs 1.67 lac, RS 1.02 lac and Rs 1.02 lac respectively. However, the amount spent on the hospitality provided to Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of West Bengal is not mentioned in the information.

Another surprising fact is that a whopping amount of Rs four lac was spent on the tea party that was thrown to the invitees and participants at the Banquet hall after the swearing-in ceremony. In total Rs 42 lac have been spent for the swearing-in ceremony.

As per the information available from the reliable sources, though the hotels were booked by JD (S) for the guests, the amount was paid from the state exchequer.