Many within Telangana and outside, including opposition leaders, commentators and common poeple, have criticised the move to donate such large amounts of money for religious purposes. 

Sample some of the angry responses:

According to reports, , KCR had earlier vowed to donate more generously to the Tirupati temple if and when Telangana achieves statehood, which it did it 2014. Now the CM is merely fulfilling his vow. 

Whatever the reason, the donation has outraged masses.

However, this is hardly the first time Indian politicians have outraged the public with exorbitant expenditures on seemingly unimportant events. Here are some such cases:

Maharashtra’s Shivaji Statue Extravaganza

Recently, the Devedra Fadnavis led Maharshtra government started work on the construction of the highly debated Rs 36,000 crore statue of Shivaji Maharaj in the Arabian Sea. PM Modi himself laid down the foundation stone for the massive structure, which is supposed to be double the size of the Statue of Liberty, and upon completion, will be the tallest statue in the world. 

While many have criticised the government for wasting public funds, the state has defended the expenditure, claiming it will boost tourism revenues and also help protect the heritage of the Maharashtra’s patron ruler. 

KCR’s Divine Offerings

Telanaga CM KCR himself has been in news since last year, first for several donations to temples including a 3.36 crore donation made in gold to a temple in Warangal in October last year. According to reports, the state of Telangana has been bearing these offering-expenses since 2014, and there even is a three-person committee in the government, specifically to oversee the transactions. 

The CM was also in news last year for finishing construction on the newly unveiled, 9-acre CM’s residence and office quarters in Hyderabad. The house has 150 rooms, bulletproof bathroom and bedroom windows, Z security and reportedly cost the exchequer Rs 50 crores.  

Mamata’s KKR Binge

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose government has been battling corruption and appropriation charges in the state, drew criticism from state citizens after she reportedly spent Rs 45 lakh on celebrations after Kolkata Knight Riders won the IPL V Tournament in 2012. 

The celebrations were attended by the CM herself, along with the KKR team, senior politicians and officers, along with the business partners of KKR including Shah Rukh Khan. Though there was no official account for the expenditure, some leaders of Opposition claim that gold necklaces were given to the players of the winning team. 

Banerjee however dismissed the criticism, claiming there was nothing wrong with celebrating a victory and that such celebrations are gestures that boost the morale of the players. 

Mayawati’s Statues, Elephants and Bungalow 

Bahujan Samajwadi Party supremo Mayawati has long been notorious for alleged, unwarranted spending of taxpayer’s money. 

From her first oath as Chief Minister in 1995, till 2012, she allegedly spent Rs 4,500 crores of taxpayers’ money on memorial parks, gargantuan sandstone or granite statues of elephants (the party symbol for BSP) and of herself and her mentor Kanshi Ram, spread across Uttar Pradesh. She allegedly spent Rs 86 crores on the renovation of her Chief Ministerial bungalow.

In 2009, a PIL was filed for a CBI probe into the misuse of public money. 

In 2010, Mayawati drew flak yet again after she shelled out Rs 9 crores of public money to employ about thousands of retired policemen as security guards to maintain vigil over the various statues she had had installed in the state.

In her defence, Mayawati has claimed that the statues are an expression of Dalit assertion and empowerment. Over the past few years, the BSP chief has also toned down the rate of constructions. 

 Kejriwal’s Advertorial Excesses

The Arving Kejriwal led Aad Aadmi Party, which is in power in Delhi, recently came under the The Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) scanner after reports that it spent Rs 28 crores on political advertising and campaigning outside of Delhi. 

AAP govt notoriously set aside Rs 526 crore for advertising in the 2015 budget, something that Opposition leaders claimed to be an abuse of public money for self promotion, which is banned by order of the Election Commission. 

Samajwadi Party’s Tea Parties 

A reported total of Rs 9 crores was spent from the exchequer over a period of four years by the Samajwadi on snacks and refreshments such as tea, samosas and gulab jamuns, to be consumed by SP ministers during party meetings and sessions. 

While opposition has attacked SP for looting public money, SP has defended the expense by claiming the money is spent on public sessions and meetings, and the snacks are often not just consumed by ministers but by visitors from ministers’ constituencies who come for sessions or consultations. 

Modi’s Campaigning Blitz 

The central government recently drew public flak after reports revealed that the Modi government was spending large sums to advertise and promote demonetisation and the cashless economy model the govt is currently aiming for, post demonetisation on Nov 8, 2016. According to an India Times report, the Modi government had, at one point, been spending Rs 1.4 crore a day on advertisements for the recent demonetisation drive. Till Dec 2016, the government had already spent Rs 10 crores on the demonetization campaigning.

This is not the first time the central government is facing flak for over-spending on campaigns. The Modi government had attracted backlash when reports surfaced claiming the government had spent Rs 100 crores on promoting Swacha Bharat. (Here promotions mean through advertising on any medium including print, online, radio and TV)

What is the legal recourse? 

In most cases, there is no legal recourse against such expenditures since the decisions are taken by state legislative bodies themselves and thus, despite individual PILs, they are considered by courts to largely be representative of and in line with the wishes and aspirations of local citizens. 

Governments often defend the expenses by citing the wishes of the majority, as in case of Mayawati, whose parks and memorials were apparently greeted by locals with great enthusiasm at the time of inception, or future gains as in the case of the Shivaji statue in Maharashtra. 

In reality, no real mechanisms exist to check exorbitant spending by individual states or parties in the name of development. Apart from the occasional PIL and certain censures by the CAG or the Election Commision, all common citizens can do is hope that their chosen state representatives follow a moral code of conduct and not splurge on useless whims. 

Feature Image Source: Twitter