The Government isn’t paying for the five-star hotel stay — “I have made private arrangements.” This was the defence trotted out by Minister of External Affairs S M Krishna after The Indian Express reported on September 8 that he was staying at the ITC Maurya and his deputy Shashi Tharoor was at the Taj Mahal Hotel while their party preached austerity.

What Krishna didn’t tell was that his Ministry repeatedly tried to get the government to pick up his tab. This is clearly established by MEA records accessed by The Indian Express.

n On May 29, the day that Tharoor took charge as Minister — Krishna had taken charge on May 24 — the MEA’s Joint Secretary (Establishment), Gauri Shankar Gupta, wrote to the Ministry of Urban Development (UD) that both Ministers were staying in private hotels as their officially allotted houses were not ready. The UD Ministry is the nodal ministry for arranging accommodation for Ministers and Members of Parliament.

n On June 17, MEA’s Gupta wrote again to the UD Ministry and referred to a note from Krishna’s office regarding his hotel stay. “I would appreciate if payment for the hotel accommodation for the Minister could be authorized till the accommodation allotted to him by the Ministry of Urban Development is ready for occupation,” Gupta wrote.

n On June 24, the UD Ministry wrote back saying that, as per rules, it had to first accommodate MPs in state guest houses and when these were exhausted, in ITDC hotels with only the room rent paid for. “Transit stay in private hotels is not admissible for settlement,” it clearly wrote.

... contd.