Amaravati, Nov 27 Andhra Pradesh Minister Nara Lokesh used his own money for financing his 77 flights to Hyderabad, said replies to applications filed by an activist under the Right To Information (RTI) Act.
Replies from various departments which are under the Minister show that he has not claimed travelling expenses.
Nara Lokesh is the Minister for Human Resources Development, Information Technology, Electronics and Communications and Real Time Governance.
He is the son of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) said that the claims made by Opposition YSR Congress Party that Lokesh travelled to Hyderabad 77 times by a special aircraft proved 'blatant lies'.
"None of these are personal trips, yet Minister Nara Lokesh funded these tours from his own pocket," the TDP said in a post on X.
"It has been revealed through an application filed by an RTI activist that Minister Nara Lokesh has not taken even a single rupee from the Human Resources, IT, Electronics, and Real Time Governance departments, which he manages, for these tours," it added.
The TDP also posted replies from the departments concerned to RTI queries by Kodamala Suresh Babu of Guntur district.
Higher Education Department, Skill Development and Training Department, Information Technology, Electronics and Communications and Department of Real Time Governance sent replies to the applications filed by the activist under the RTI application.
As per the replies from all four departments, Minister Nara Lokesh for not claiming travelling expenses.
YSRCP leaders have been criticising Minister Nara Lokesh for his frequent air trips to Hyderabad.
They had accused the Minister of misusing public money for personal visits.
They claimed that Lokesh travelled to Hyderabad by flight 77 times since TDP-led coalition came to power 18 months ago.
According to the YSRCP leaders, the Minister was visiting Hyderabad every week.
With replies to RTI queries making it clear that Minister Lokesh paid for those flights from his own pocket, the TDP leaders have hit back at the YSRCP leaders.
The ruling TDP leaders accused the opposition YSRCP of making baseless allegations against the Minister.
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