Cong's Goa picnic is a Rs 3-cr affair Mumbai December 18, 2009 The Congress's Mumbai unit gave Sonia Gandhi's austerity drive a convenient cold shoulder when it took 71 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation ( BMC) corporators to Goa to " ready" them for Friday's all important Maharashtra Legislative Council ( MLC) poll.
And the cost- to- party for the four- day Goan " picnic"? Well, the corporators and other Congress functionaries blew more than Rs 3 crore on the package that included a boat ride, a dolphin cruise, a belly dance number and an option of having expensive escorts. A Congress corporator said they were flown to Goa in batches. While some of them took a Kingfisher flight, others were flown in chartered planes on Sunday. The corporators were kept in the upmarket Hotel Ramada Inn. There was no shortage of entertainment once they landed in Goa. They were escorted to a belly dancing show by a Russian troupe and pleasure trips on boats. "Expensive alcohol was made available at our beck and call," the corporator said. The pampered lot were also offered woman escorts if they wanted. If that was not enough, when they were finally flown back to Mumbai on Thursday evening, they were whisked away to Four Seasons Hotel. In both hotels, they were put up in deluxe rooms. The tariff for a deluxe room in Ramada is Rs 20,000 or more, while the range is between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 at the posh Four Seasons in Mumbai. Though the hotels gave a " special package deal" to the Congress, even then the bill could run its crores. The Mumbai Congress Committee wants to keep the corporators happy because the party has nominated its candidate, Bhai Jagtap, for an MLC seat from the local- self government institutions. The corporators were taken to Goa not just to woo them, but also to ensure that they voted only for the Congress candidate and there was no cross- voting. The "junket" didn't come without clauses, though. The corporators were not allowed to keep their cell phones with them, lest they were " poached" on the eve of elections. Since most corporators carry more than one mobile phone, they were warned that " the party has employed engineers from IIT who would be tracking their cell phones and their calls". There were other important curbs as well. The party hired 300 bouncers to ensure that the corporators " didn't sneak out of the hotels". The party's Mumbai unit chief, Kripashankar Singh, admitted that the corporators did go to Goa, but tried to play it down saying: "It was just a picnic. The corporators footed the bill and we have not held anyone against their will." What about the act of "picnic" debauchery in Goa? That's a lie, Singh said. http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/75472/India/Cong's+Goa+picnic+is+a+Rs+3-cr+affair.html?page=0 Thanks & Regards, * Sudhir Srinivasan *B.Arch, Dip.ID, Dip.CAD, Dip.PM, AIIA, IIID, ARIAI *|**** Architect**** |***** -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OWNER : [email protected]; [!! Sriram Savarkar ¡¡] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sriram Savarkar" group. To modify your list subscription, please send a blank email to: For posting Messages: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] Visit Group : http://groups.google.com/group/sriram-savarkar?hl=en
