Believe it or not, the expenses incurred on Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister during his visit to Bengaluru just for a day in May this year was a whopping Rs 8.72 lakh!
Naidu went to Bengaluru on May 23 to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Janata Dal (S) leader H D Kumaraswamy as the chief minister of Karnataka.
He checked into the Taj West End on May 23 at 9.49 am and checked out on May 24 at 05.34 am. And the hotel for his stay and food for the day was Rs 8,72,485.
This was revealed in revealed by an RTI reply accessed by an activist.
Of course, the expenditure was not incurred by the Andhra Pradesh government, but by the state hospitality organisation of Government of Karnataka (like our department of protocol). Yet, it was all tax payers’ money.
But what one wonder how a one-day stay and food for Naidu cost so much for the Karnataka government.
Inquiries revealed that Naidu went to Bengaluru alone. Even if one were to assume that the personal security and his private assistant also travelled along with Naidu, it is surprising how so much money could be spent on them.
Interestingly, Naidu is the only guest who has incurred so much money out of all the invitees.
The expenditure on Aam Aadmi Party chief and Delhi chief minister 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 was Rs 1.87 lakh, including Rs 76,000 for in-room dining and food/juices on the night he arrived.
The other guests on which high expenses were incurred were: Sharad Yadav (Rs 1.67 lakh), Akhilesh Yadav (Rs 1.02 lakh) and Sitaram Yechury (Rs 64,000).
Even MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi’s visit for a few hours cost the Karantaka government more than Rs 35,000.
Movie star-turned-politician Kamal Haasan also ran up a bill of Rs 1,02,040 for his stay at the Taj West End!
