Notwithstanding a huge controversy over expenditure on her foreign travels, the then President Pratibha Patil ran up a bill of Rs 18.08 crore on her last trip abroad shortly before demitting office, according to official information accessed through RTI. ...
09:57 PM, Jan 13, 2013
Junagarh: A combative and unrelenting Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Friday night continued his attack on Congress President Sonia Gandhi's foreign trips and accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of misleading the country on the issue, quoting RTI replies from Indian embassies. "The Prime Minister is misguiding the country. I ask the Prime Minister as a common man to come clean.. The RTI reply received from various Indian embassies abroad...
08:08 AM, Oct 06, 2012
Jamnagar: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Friday night accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of misleading the country on the issue of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's foreign trips, quoting RTI replies from Indian embassies. "The Prime Minister is misguiding the country. I ask the Prime Minister as a common man to come clean...The RTI reply received from various Indian embassies abroad says lakhs of rupees were spent on Soniaji's foreign...
11:46 PM, Oct 05, 2012
New Delhi: The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has stepped in to counter the claims that the government had spent huge amount of money on the foreign travel and her treatment abroad. The PMO issued a statement calling the reports quoting an expense of Rs 1880 crore on Sonia's foreign visits and treatment as "untrue and misleading". Pointing that the Central Information Commissioner (CIC) already denied the reports and made a...
05:39 PM, Oct 05, 2012
New Delhi: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday kept up the attack on Congress President Sonia Gandhi saying if the newspaper reports mentioning the details of the expenditure incurred on her foreign trips and treatment abroad were wrong, why did the ruling party shy away from taking legal action. "I would want to tell the Congress that this news was in newspapers many months back. Why did the government...
01:16 PM, Oct 02, 2012
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that he was willing to say sorry to the Congress if his allegations over foreign trip expenses of Sonia Gandhi were proved wrong. He said that he had a newspaper report to back his claims. However, the newspaper company itself has refused to back the claims saying they got the figure from a news agency. Meanwhile, the RTI applicant, whose document was ...
09:04 AM, Oct 02, 2012
New Delhi: Hours after Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi waved copies of a bunch of papers carrying an RTI report on Congress President Sonia Gandhi's foreign tours and the alleged expenditure on her treatment abroad, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strongman has been forced to climb down after the RTI applicant himself denied the Rs 1880 crore figure that Modi alleged Sonia had spent on her tours. "If Modi is...
07:08 AM, Oct 02, 2012
Rajkot: Castigating Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for his allegation that Sonia Gandhi's foreign trips were funded from public exchequer, the state Congress unit on Monday said the BJP stalwart has "lost control over his mind and is suffering from "inferiority complex". Modi on monday targeted the Congress President claiming that Rs 1880 crore has been spent from the public exchequer on Sonia's foreign trips in the past three years....
12:56 AM, Oct 02, 2012
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has said that he will apologise if his allegations against UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi turn out to be wrong. ...
11:50 PM, Oct 01, 2012
New Delhi: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi upped the ante on Monday asking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with whose permission the "wasteful expenditure" of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), were being made. "Should we forgive such people who make such wasteful expenditures?" he asked. The Gujarat CM launched a barrage of criticism against UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi saying if Rs 1880 crore could be spent on her foreign trips and...
01:34 PM, Oct 01, 2012
Bangalore: Fourteen MLAs, who went on a state-sponsored tour of 18 countries at a time when their state, Karnataka, was reeling under severe drought-like conditions, have returned. They maintain that their trip, that cost the government approximately Rs 4 crore, was in the interests of the state. The MLAs reportedly continued their tour despite repeated requests from Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar to return. ...
04:47 PM, Sep 15, 2012
Bangalore: Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar has asked a dozen legislators who were holidaying abroad to return home immediately. This comes as the two-week holiday to South America and Dubai drew criticism from civil society as the state is reeling under a severe drought. Shettar has sharply criticised the ministers as well and said that no minister of his will be allowed on any such foreign trip in the future....
10:23 AM, Sep 05, 2012
Bangalore: They will not be deterred by public criticism or government declarations of austerity in a time of drought. About 100 legislators, accompanied by 15 officials, are going ahead with study tours to Russia, the Scandinavian countries and South America. The bill could exceed Rs 8 crore. The necessary formalities have been completed, Assembly Speaker K G Bopaiah told Express. According to official sources, the state government has given the...
12:52 PM, Aug 07, 2012
New Delhi: Fresh guidelines have been issued for bureaucrats visiting abroad asking them to furnish details about their sponsors and expenditure. In an order, the Centre has said officials who seek the mandatory government clearance for going abroad have to submit a "write up" if they are going to attend a conference or seminar in foreign countries. The expenditure details which are to be submitted include air fare and approximate...
08:14 PM, Jul 11, 2012
New Delhi: Facing criticism over her foreign visits, President Pratibha Patil on Sunday said there has been a "misconception" and wanted people to ascertain the factual position. "Right now, there has been a misconception so far as the visits of the President are concerned...The President does not go at his/her own will. The Government gives a suggestion on the places the President should visit," Patil said in an interview to...
11:14 PM, May 06, 2012
New Delhi: Government on Wednesday sought to put an end to a controversy, generated by President Pratibha Patil taking her two grandchildren on a 9-day state visit to Seychelles and South Africa, saying it is a "normal diplomatic practice". "It's a normal diplomatic practice that a visiting dignitary occasionally takes members of his/her family on visiting trips. Hospitality for such visiting dignitaries in such cases is usually provided by the...
06:20 PM, May 02, 2012
New Delhi: President Pratibha Patil's foreign travel has cost the public exchequer a whopping Rs 205 crore on her foreign visits, surpassing the record of all her predecessors. Since assuming office as the country's first woman President in July 2007, Patil has undertaken 12 foreign trips covering 22 countries across four continents. She has four more months to go for her five-year tenure and she is slated to make a...
07:16 PM, Mar 25, 2012
New Delhi: No government department seems to have any information about the tours and travels undertaken by the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi as an RTI application kept moving to different ministries without any substantial response. The case relates to an RTI application filed by one Kailash Kanwar of Bhilwara in Rajasthan who sought to know about the foreign visits undertaken by the UPA and National Advisory Council Chairperson during the...
05:34 PM, Nov 08, 2011
Leave the country to beat the heat, seems the mantra for our ministers while the aam-aadmi sweats it out. ...
09:43 AM, Apr 14, 2010
London: Pune Warriors' English allrounder Luke Wright, who has played just one game in IPL 5, fears he could be down with dengue. Presently in England to attend a family funeral, Wright was to join the Pune team for Tuesday's match against Rajasthan Royals. This morning for blood test! They think I may have picked up Dengue Fever in India. What ever it is I hope it goes very soon,...
08:09 PM, May 20, 2008
