How Rs 3.4 crore were spent on chai? Congress slams Devendra Fadnavis on 'tea scam'

The 'tea scam' pot kept boiling in Maharashtra with the Congress on Thursday writing to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and questioning the government's clarification on the expenses incurred on tea and snacks in the CMO.

Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam wrote to Fadnavis today, saying that the information obtained under Right to Information and the government's clarification do not match.

"The chief minister says this is overall expenditure on bouquets, shawls and coconuts given during felicitations, whereas the RTI specifically gave details of expenditure on tea and snacks," he said.

Seeking an "internal inquiry", Nirupam said, "The response of the chief minister is full of loopholes and lies.

"A former Congress chief minister said tea and snacks expenses of the CMO have always been in lakhs. Then how did they rise to Rs 3.4 crore during 2017-18 from Rs 58 lakh during 2015-16?" the former MP said.

Meanwhile, speaking at an event in Pune, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said, "I have been the chief minister four times but I was surprised when I heard news about the huge amount spent on tea and snacks."

After Nirupam sought to create a 'storm in a teacup' yesterday by accusing the CMO of inflated bills of tea and snacks, the latter had rubbished the claim.

Responding to the Congress leader's allegations, the CMO had said, "The conclusions drawn by Nirupam are wrong. The expenditure he referred to as being on tea and snacks is in reality the expenditure on the overall hospitality.

"This includes expenditure on tea, snacks, meals, and cost incurred on snacks during state cabinet meetings, bouquets, shawls and shriphal (coconut), gift articles and also the expenditure on (holding) meetings of various departments," the CMO had said.

"Also, the expenditure is not just that of the CMO, but includes the expenditure at Mantralaya, Sahyadri guest house, Varsha (CM's official residence in Mumbai), Ramgiri (CM's official residence at Nagpur) and Hyderabad House at Nagpur," it said.