TMC & BJP spar over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign trip expenses

Kolkata: With BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari raising questions over the expenses of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Spain tour, Trinamool Congress (TMC) has rebutted asking why is he not perturbed that a whopping Rs 1,738 crore of taxpayers’ money was allegedly spent on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign trips between 2014

and 2023.

The spat between Adhikari, Leader of Opposition in Bengal and Kunal Ghosh, TMC spokesperson, can be traced to a social media post by the former who alleged that despite seeking information through an RTI from state government departments regarding Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s 11-day trip to the United Arab Emirates and Spain, no information was shared with him.

Adhikari wrote on X: “Why aren’t they providing the information regarding CM’s foreign trip? What are they hiding? Who has instructed them to act in such evasive manner and not to comply with the provisions of the Right to Information Act, 2005? I will wait for a few more days for their response and then I will approach an appropriate Court of Law regarding this matter.”

TMC shared an article dating back to 2018 by an English news portal which alleged that the Ministry of External Affairs refused to share information with them against an RTI filed requesting disclosure of the names of government and private individuals who accompanied Prime Minister Narendra Modi on foreign tours from 2014-15 onwards.

TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh wrote on X: “From LoP @SuvenduWB ‘s outrage over an unanswered RTI inquiry, it appears that his concerns are conveniently tailored to fit a certain narrative. Why was he not equally perturbed when a whopping Rs 1,738 crore of taxpayers’ money was spent on PM @narendramodi’s foreign trips between 2014 and 2023. Why was no alarm raised when @MEAIndia blatantly flouted the Central Information Commission’s explicit orders by withholding names of those accompanying Modi on these foreign trips? Double

standards, much?”