An RTI reply has shown huge discrepancies in the income disclosed by Narendra Modi as Gujarat chief minister in 2011.12 through an election affidavit.
According to the RTI reply (copies are with www.jantakareporter.com), Modi as Gujarat chief minister earned close to Rs 60,000 every month as salary and allowances.
This is in sharp contrast to his 2012 assembly election affidavit, which had described his gross income as Rs 1.5 lakh for the whole year.
The Ahmedabad-based RTI activist had first moved the Gujarat government in December with an RTI request on Modi’s salary as chief minister. But, as reported by www.jantakareporter.com, the state government had rejected the request,
This had come after a series of unsuccessful requests by RTI activists to obtain information on Modi’s educational qualification.
An Ahmedabad based lawyer KR Koshti had written to the state government requesting information on Modi’s pay and other benefits. Among other requests, ‘point 4’ of his RTI request had asked for the following;
“From date when Narendra Modi became Chief Minster to date when he ceased to be Chief Minister of Gujarat, provide monthly breakup of Costs, Allowances Perks and other benefits paid (expensed to exchequer) to Narendra Modi in a tabular form for each component. When direct benefit is not paid, please provide cost incurred by government in books for Narendra Modi for it.”
Koshti then filed an appeal and forced the authorities to release the full detail on Modi’s income as chief minister.
Roshan Shah, Koshti’s friend, who helped him file the appeal said, “First Modi concealed information about his marital status, then his government refuses to give information on his education credentials, and it’s clear that he’s misled the nation on his income too. It’s a clear violation of Representation of People Act, where the persons are expected to be honest. He’s not been honest here. This is very unfortunate and serious development. The nation is in such person’s control, who lie.”
More to come
