Ys Jagan Spends Rs.222 Crores On Helicopter Rides?

The former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy was found to reportedly spent a massive Rs 222 crore on air travel during his five-year rule. Andhra Pradesh Aviation Corporation Ltd (APACL) a state run company which heads the all air travel related services for the government has come up with these details during a review inspection and found out these massive bills that government had to pay for the luxurious travel the Jagan has done.  

It is shocking to see the details of the bill where Rs 112.50 crores were spent on fixed-wing aircraft, Rs 87.02 crores on helicopters and Rs 23.31 crores on just fuel, rent, charter hire, crew costs and maintenance costs. There were days reported when Jagan travelled by helicopter all the way from Tadepalli to Tenali for his own government PR programs which is just 25kms away. Even for a half an hour car ride from his camp office, he used to take helicopters to travel. 

YSRCP has been accusing IT minister Lokesh of frequently flying to Hyderabad and misusing public money in the name of fetching investments for the state. Thanks to an RTI filed by Kodamala Suresh Babu which clearly showed that not a single department under Lokesh paid for his trips. In fact, the minister personally paid for all 77 trips to Hyderabad on his own money. The ruling TDP fired back strongly. Calling the YSRCP’s allegations “blatant lies,” the party released detailed data on what they say was Jagan’s extravagant air travel spending.

TDP also took these facts from the bills to social media, posting a sharp comparison between Lokesh travel and Jagan’s travel:

“In 18 months as Minister, Nara Lokesh didn’t take even one rupee from the government for his travel. But in 60 months as Chief Minister, Jagan Reddy used Rs 222 crore of public money on special flights and helicopters.”

With these numbers now out in the open, the political heat in Andhra Pradesh has gone up once again giving both sides plenty to attack each other.