Cost Of Dharna Against PM Modi: Rs 11 Crore; Beneficiaries: Chandrababu Naidu And Friends; Who Pays: Indian Taxpayer

Around Rs 11 crore from the Andhra Pradesh exchequer was spent to organise state Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi, reports India Today.

According to the report, documents accessed by India Today revealed that the Andhra Pradesh government allocated this amount to ensure the protest could be organised.

Two special trains with 20 coaches each were hired using part of the amount to ferry Naidu’s supporters to join him in the protest in Delhi. The state government also took care of the welfare of these protesters, revealed the documents.

The protest was organised by Andhra Chief Minister to attack the Modi government for failing to grant special status to the state. Other Opposition leaders, including Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and National Conference Leader Faarooq Abdullah, also joined the protest.

As per the report, Andhra’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government spent Rs 1.2 crore from the state exchequer to hire two special trains having 20 compartments each in order to transport interested political parties, organisations and others to participate in the one-day Deeksha (protest) at New Delhi on 11 February.

The documents also revealed that the Naidu government issued an order releasing Rs 10 crore for “meeting the expenditure of the one-day protest in New Delhi".

The government order (GO RT 215 issued on 6 February) reportedly said the money was to be spent on "transportation of participants from different regions of Andhra Pradesh" and "payments of other bills".