External Affairs Mnister SM Krishna and his deputy Shashi Tharoor are not as lucky as Minister of State for Tourism Sultan Ahmed. Both Krishna and Tharoor stayed at five-star hotels during their initial days as ministers since their official bungalows were being renovated. Like them, Sultan Ahmed, also stayed in a five-star hotel for almost two months — the Ashoka Hotel — instead of the shabby rooms of his state guest house in Delhi. While Krishna and Tharoor paid for their hotel stay, Ahmed managed to get the urban development ministry to pay his bill of over Rs 23 lakh — the ministry is in charge of providing bungalows for ministers. Ahmed was initially asked by his party chief, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, to pay the bill but he cited some government rules under which the urban development ministry had to pay.
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