Dehradun: Refuting allegations by the opposition Congress, Uttarakhand government on Monday said BJP president Nitin Gadkari and his family bore the entire expenditure of their Chardham pilgrimage in the state.
Gadkari and his family paid the rent of the
helicopters used by them and they also met the hotel expenses
during their visit, chairman of state media advisory
committee, Devendra Bhasin, said.
Dismissing as "baseless" allegations of the Congress
in this regard, Bhasin said Uttarakhand government incurred no
expenditure on Chardham yatra of Gadkari and his family.
Congress MLA Kishore Upadhyay and Lok Sabha MP Vijay
Bahuguna had accused the BJP government of spending public
money on visits of their leaders.
Bhasin said when a person undertakes a pilgrimage, he
spends his own money as this is a question of his faith. "The
Congress leaders should have inquired the matter first before
levelling such allegations as they have hurt the personal
faith of the BJP leader," he said.
Bhasin claimed that Congress leaders "are getting
frustrated due to rising popularity graph of BJP government"
in Uttarakhand where assembly elections are due early next
year.
During his four-day visit to Uttarakhand that ended
yesterday, Gadkari paid obeisance at the four Himalayan
shrines of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri
besides holding talks with party leaders in view of coming
assembly elections.
PTI
First Published: Monday, June 20, 2011, 17:38