Several Union ministers yet to clear dues on official bungalows: RTI
New Delhi: Several Union ministers, including Vijay Goel, Prakash Javadekar, Nirmala Sitharaman and Sushma Swaraj, have not cleared dues on their official bungalows till February, the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry said.
Replying to an RTI query, the ministry said Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Union Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region Jitendra Singh also have outstanding payments on their bungalows.
These dues concern furniture and other things provided at the bungalows, an official of the ministry said. The amounts for Naqvi and Singh are around Rs 1.46 lakh and Rs 3.18 lakh respectively for the same period, according to the ministry.
The reply, dated April 26, came on an RTI application filed by Ajit Kumar Singh .
The Directorate of Estates, which comes under the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, allots bungalows to Union ministers and MPs in the national capital.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman had pending dues of Rs 53, 276 while dues of Rs 86,923 was not cleared by Javadekar till February.
Goel, who is minister of state for parliamentary affairs, also did not clear dues running into nearly Rs 3 lakh while Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Singh had dues of Rs 2,88,269 till February, it stated.
Responding to the RTI query , the directorate said External Affairs Minister Swaraj had pending dues of Rs 98,890 on her official bungalow till the same period.
The Directorate of Estates issues a 'No Demand Certificate (NDC)' to those ministers and MPs who have cleared their dues.
According to the RTI reply, there was only Rs 14,627 dues pending on Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot after he paid Rs 1,23,215 out of Rs 1,37,842 accessed from August 2014 to February 2019.
There are also several Union ministers who have cleared their dues.
Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Giriraj Singh, Babul Supriyo, Harsh Vardhan, Manoj Sinha, Narendra Singh Tomar, Mahesh Sharma, Jayant Sinha, Ravi Shanker Prasad, Uma Bharti and Smirti Irani are among the Union ministers who have cleared their dues.
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Kangana Ranaut shown black flags in Himachal's Lahaul and Spiti, BJP files complaint with CEO
Shimla, May 20: Actor Kangana Ranaut, BJP candidate from the Mandi parliamentary constituency, was shown black flags by local people and Congress workers at Kaza in Lahaul and Spiti on Monday.
The Himachal Pradesh BJP filed a complaint with the state chief electoral officer (CEO) demanding transfer of election officials and an investigation into the incident as both the BJP and the Congress were given permission to hold rallies adjacent to each other.
The Congress workers raised anti-Kangana slogans - "Kangana, go back, Kangana Vangana nahi chalegi". They were apparently enraged over her remarks on Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama in April last year.
Ranaut had tweeted a meme featuring the Dalai Lama that said, "The Dalai Lama receives a warm welcome at the White house". The photoshopped picture in the tweet showed the Dalai Lama sticking his tongue out with US President Joe Biden with a comment - Both of them have the same illness, definitely they could be friends.
Following this, a group of Buddhists staged a dharna outside her office in Mumbai.
Later she apologised saying she didn't mean to hurt anyone, and it was a harmless joke about Biden being friends with the Dalai Lama.
Leader of the Opposition in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly Jai Ram Thakur, who had accompanied Ranaut to Kaza to campaign for the BJP, on Monday alleged that the Congress workers tried to disturb the meeting of the BJP and pelted stones on their carcade while they were returning.
Talking to reporters, he said, "It is unfortunate that for the first time, permission was given to hold a parallel rally at the venue to the Congress where prior permission was already granted to the BJP to hold the rally.
Efforts were made to disturb our rally and the Congress workers raised shameful slogans, stopped our carcade and pelted stones, injuring one person."
Thakur added that they go for campaigning all over the state but such things have happened for the first time, which shows "frustration" of the Congress and they would take up the issue with the Election Commission.
Later, in a complaint filed with the Himachal Pradesh CEO, BJP state office secretary Parmod Kumar Thakur said the Congress workers allegedly tried to illegally restrain the political procession and even pelted stones and demanded an investigation into the incident.
"The district administration granted permission for organising a political meeting to the Congress adjacent to the place already scheduled to hold a political meeting of the BJP at Kaza under undue influence of the state government in utter violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC)", he said.
In the complaint, the BJP demanded the immediate transfer of election officials from Lahaul and Spiti and said giving permission to both the parties at the same location at the same time was a "big lapse" on the part of the Election Commission "in spite of the fact that permission to the BJP was provided first and the officers involved in this act are biased against the BJP, and free and fair elections are doubtful under the circumstances."
Lahaul and Spiti SP Mayank Chowdhary told PTI that workers of both the BJP and the ruling Congress came face to face but there was no clash and no person was injured. However, one worker sprained his leg, he added.
Bhishan Shashni, Congress election coordinator for Lahaul and Spiti claimed that the Congress workers were peacefully protesting but a large number of people, who were hurt by Ranaut's remarks about the Tibetan spiritual leader, joined the protest.
Earlier, Congress candidate from the Mandi Lok Sabha seat Vikramaditya Singh had asked why Ranaut did not visit Spiti and returned from Reckong Peo alleging that she was afraid she would be shown black flags for her remarks against the Dalai Lama.
