‘Rs 43 lakh for Speaker’s chair, Rs 67 lakh portraits’: RTI activist slams K’taka govt for wasting public tax money
Belagavi, Karnataka – 2 Dec (LatestNewsX) – Right‑to‑Information activist Bhimappa Gadad took to the streets of Belagavi on Tuesday to claim that the state government has shelled out roughly ₹43 lakh on a single office chair for the Legislative Assembly Speaker at the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, as well as an extra ₹67 lakh on installing images of national leaders inside the building.
Speaking to LatestNewsX, Gadad slammed the government for what he described as a blatant waste of public tax money.
“The government claims it has no funds and is under financial stress, yet it spends huge amounts on unnecessary luxury items,” he told reporters.
He pointed out that ₹42 93 940 was only spent on a chair for the Speaker.
“This is astonishing — almost a Guinness record. When the President visited for the inauguration of the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, the state government spent ₹33 lakh on his chair. Now they have spent about ₹43 lakh on a chair for the Speaker. Even the President does not use such an expensive chair. This is an outrageous waste of public money,” he added.
Gadad also questioned the moral responsibility of Assembly Speaker U.T. Khader.
“I want to ask the Assembly Speaker whether he has similar chairs at his residence and whether he normally uses chairs worth ₹43 lakh at home. There must be limits on how public money is spent,” the RTI activist said.
He highlighted the state government’s claims of financial hardship.
“The economic situation is not good. The state government says it has imposed restrictions on wasteful spending. Pensions for the elderly are delayed, and allowances for the disabled, widows and others have been reduced. Government employees are not receiving salaries on time, but MLAs and MPs get their pay every month without fail,” he remarked.
The activist further said that the state government spent ₹67 67 964 on portraits of 11 eminent personalities, including Mahatma Gandhi, Lord Basaveshwara, B.R. Ambedkar and Veer Savarkar, inside the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha.
He added that in 2022, the state paid ₹12.70 lakh to artists from the Chitrakala Parishath for portraits of seven leaders.
“Later, as per the Speaker’s directions, a team reviewed the portraits and reported that they did not resemble the personalities. The state then spent ₹24.80 lakh more for the same photos. In total, the amount spent on 11 portraits stands at about ₹67 lakh,” the RTI activist said.
Gadad demanded that the government display the Speaker’s chair and the portraits for public viewing.
“They should also appoint a guide to explain their exorbitant prices,” he said.
He warned that if the state refuses to curb what he calls wasteful spending, he will initiate a legal battle.
“Pensions for widows and the differently‑abled are being disbursed once in two or three months. The only people who receive salaries and reimbursements on time are MLAs and MLCs,” he added.
The Winter Assembly session is set to begin on December 8 and run until December 19 at the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi.
This development is bound to spark controversy.
Bharatiya Janata Party Lok Sabha member and former Speaker Visveshwar Hegde Kageri recently urged a sitting Judge of Karnataka High Court to investigate alleged corruption by Speaker U.T. Khader.
“Let a sitting Judge probe the allegations of corruption by Assembly Speaker U.T. Khader,” Kageri said, noting that in the last two‑and‑a‑half years Speaker Khader, in the name of administrative reforms, allegedly indulged in corruption by fitting smart locks to legislators’ rooms, installing AI‑monitored television sets, hosting book fairs, lighting displays, and massage chairs for legislators, among other measures.
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