In the last three years since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in Karnataka, the state government has spent at least Rs 260 crore on hospitality. This includes an expense of Rs 92.2 crore towards hosting Union ministers and the delegations that accompany them, as well as hospitality expenses incurred by the Chief Minister’s office(CMO), according to replies under the Right to Information Act and documents of the Comptroller and Auditor General accessed by The File.
According to the CAG, when BS Yediyurappa became the Chief Minister in 2019, a sum of Rs 30.04 crore was spent on hosting state guests, Union ministers, IAS officers on official duty and accompanying delegations, judges of the Karnataka High Court and Supreme Court, and chairpersons of Union government committees. In 2020-21, an amount of Rs 23.32 crore was spent on similar expenses. Basavaraj Bommai took over as the Chief Minister in July 2021, and in the financial year 2021-22, as of the second week of December 2021 when the audit was conducted, Rs 20.47 crore were spent. In total, an amount of Rs 92.2 crore was spent towards hosting Union ministers and their accompanying delegations.
In addition to this, in the same period, a total amount of Rs 168 crore was spent by the CMO on hosting guests. This includes expenses on food, fuel, transport and milk for coffee and tea. The CAG also noted that in the same three years, eight cars including a Toyota Innova, Hyundai Verna, Innova Crysta and Ford Altis that were bought to be used by the Chief Minister, state ministers and state guests have remained unused.
A reply to an RTI query filed by journalist Mahantesh revealed that in the five year period from 2013 to 2018, under the previous Congress government headed by Siddaramaiah, general hospitality expenses including government hostels and guest houses, transport and administrative expenses under the CMO amounted to Rs 52 crore.
Just a few days ago on March 6, BJP leader from Bengaluru NR Ramesh alleged that a sum of Rs 200 crore was spent just to serve food to guests at the Vidhana Soudha when Siddaramaiah was the Chief Minister between 2013 and 2018. Addressing the media, Ramesh had questioned how the Congress government could have allegedly spent Rs 11 lakh on average per day, and asked if guests were being served gold biscuits. Siddaramaiah had hit back at the BJP claiming that the actual amount spent was only Rs 3.26 crore. He said that the BJP was levelling false allegations to divert attention from the arrest of BJP legislator Madal Virupakshappa by the Lokayukta.