BJP government in Uttarkhand spent Rs. 68 lakh on tea, snacks in 9 months: RTI
Dehradun: The state government in Uttarakhand, headed by Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, has spent over Rs. 68 lakh in nine months on tea and snacks revealed a Right To Information (RTI).
The RTI request was sent by an activist, Hemant Singh Gaunia, to the BJP government in Dehradun on December 19, 2017, asking for details on the money spent on tea and snacks ever since the new government was sworn in on March 18 last year.
The state government, in its response, said "68 lakh, 59 thousand and 865 rupees have been spent".
The money has been spent by the ministers and other officials in entertaining guests, specifically on tea and snacks, it said.
Trivendra Singh Rawat was sworn-in as the ninth Chief Minister of Uttarakhand after the BJP's landslide win in the assembly polls last March. The party had won 57 of the 70 seats in the Uttarkhand assembly.
A similar RTI enquiry in 2016 had revealed that the then chief minister Harish Rawat's government had spent nearly Rs. 1.5 crore between February 2014 and July 2016 on tea and breakfast.
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Lalu Prasad slams BJP over heckling of woman singer
Chaos over "Raghupati Raghav..." at Vajpayee memorial
Patna, Dec 26: RJD president Lalu Prasad on Thursday slammed the BJP over alleged heckling of a woman artist who sang a bhajan, known to be a favourite of Mahatma Gandhi, at a function organised on the birth anniversary of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee a day ago.
The RJD supremo, on his X handle, alleged that the BJP leaders had taken exception to the phrase 'Sita Ram' and asked the singer to apologise before erupting in roars of "Jai Shri Ram".
The well-attended function was held on Wednesday at Bapu Sabhagar, a sprawling state-of-the-art auditorium in the heart of the city.
The septuagenarian alleged that the incident was "reflective of the misogyny that the BJP and the Sangh Parivar was known for" and its "disdain for females was resulting in disrespect for 'Sita Mata'."
However, BJP sources, who did not wish to be named, pointed out that the newspaper report shared by Prasad in an earlier tweet clearly stated that the furore was not over 'Sita Ram', but the subsequent stanza - 'Ishwar Allah Tero Naam'.
The sources claimed that party workers were opposed to the "recital of a line that was not part of the original verse composed by 15th-century poet Narsi Mehta, but inserted later, apparently in line with Gandhi's Hindu-Muslim unity plank".
संघियों और भाजपाइयों को “जय सियाराम, जय सीताराम” के नाम एवं नारे से शुरू ही नफरत है क्योंकि उसमें माता सीता का जयकारा है। ये लोग शुरू से ही महिला विरोधी है तथा “जय श्री राम’ के नारे के साथ आधी आबादी महिलाओं का भी अपमान करते हैं।
— Lalu Prasad Yadav (@laluprasadrjd) December 26, 2024
गायिका देवी ने कल कार्यक्रम में बापू के नाम पर… pic.twitter.com/fOGhxfWE16
