Gujarat EDN
AM 02OCT2012
The CM claims Centre has admitted spending Rs 1880 cr on Cong chief’s
foreign trips; youth who filed RTI plea denies receiving such information
Ahmedabad Mirror Bureau amfeedback@indiatimes.com
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Monday shocked a public gathering in Saurashtra, claiming that the central government had used nearly Rs 2000 crore on Congress president Sonia Gandhi’stripsabroad.This,he said, was an insult of the poor in the country.
Modi claimed to have got the information following an RTI query by youth from Hisar in Haryana and what he had read somewhere. He said the government or Sonia had not denied this so far.
Soon hundreds of Modi fanstooktosocialmedia,
But in a setback to Modi and his fans, the youth denied receiving such information.
At a rally in Jesar village in Bhavnagar district as a part of hisVivekanandYuvaVikasYatra, Modi said, “Nearly 2000 crore of rupees, to be precise 1880 crore, was being spent on the taam jhaam during Sonia Gandhi’s foreign trips.”
Taam jhaam is a colloquial Kathiawadi word for “unnecessary show-off”. “Isn’t this an insultofthepoorpeopleofthis country?” he asked the crowd which cheered, prompting him to add, “I ask the prime minister Man Mohan Singh to explain why should the Government of India pay money, not once but eight times when Sonia Gandhi goes abroad to meet her mother?”
“This clearly means that more than the total annual budget of Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Junagadh and Rajkot municipal corporations combined has been spent only on the foreign trips of Sonia Gandhi and on her luxury hotel stays and chartered planes,” Modi said.
ThetimingofModi’sdirect attack on Sonia is important because she is scheduled to launch Congress election campaign by addressing a huge rally of farmers in Gujarat on October 3.
Modi alleged that Sonia was getting facilities like special planes, which are meant for the president and prime minister, from public funds though she was just an MP.
“Has the government given special status of head of state to Sonia?” he asked, adding “wasn’t this money spent from the state exchequer? From the money spent there, we can produce electricity for the whole of Gujarat.”
Modi also called upon farmers to ask Sonia to explain on Wednesday why no drought relief package has been cleared for Gujarat’s Saurashtra region.
Meanwhile RTI activist Ramesh Verma, who had filed application seeking expenditure on Sonia’s foreign tours was quoted as saying that Modi had incorrectly attributed the details to him. Verma said that in June, the Central Information Commission, based on his appeal, asked the Prime Minister's Office to reveal expenses on Sonia’s tours. Those documents, he said, have still not been shared with him. WHAT MODI SAID ON SONIA’S FOREIGN TRIPS » “I want to ask my friends in Congress, isn’t it true Congress Chairperson Sonia Gandhi has spent Rs 1880 crore from exchequer in
last three years on her foreign trips?...” » “Rs 1880 which is close to Rs 2000 crore and it means money equal to the annual budget of four municipal corporations including Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Junagadh and Rajkot, was spent
on Sonia Gandhi’s foreign trips and her hotel stay….” » “I would like to raise this question, is this they call simplicity? Who is misusing the public money? Who is spending the money
which belongs to the poor people of India?...”
