The contention of the Congress in Madhya Pradesh is that the amount of money the leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party have spent on air travel could have financed several kilometres of roads in the state.
Leaders say Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has, between 2006 and 2009, spent 1,300 hours flying all across the state. This has cost the state exchequer Rs 13 crore. Add to this the Rs 10 crore spent by his other ministerial colleagues, who flew 530 hours in all.
This Rs 23 crore would have financed a small school, some roads or a mini water project in the state. Oddly enough, PWD Minister Babulal Gaur, whose department is most in need of money, has spent as much as Rs 25 lakh on air travel, presumably to avoid the roads that his department has built.