Balan said, it is surprising that the opposition opposes the expenditure from the exchequer and also opposes it when sponsorship is sought. He said similar sponsorship was sought when earlier the event was held in London and Dubai. This is a program for Keralites and there is nothing wrong in seeking sponsorship.
The Congress-led opposition is jealous that Vijayan’s support is growing and the diaspora is more than happy to participate, Balan said.
Earlier this week, brochures for the event, to be held in New York from July 9 to 11, revealed that local organizers have decided to raise sponsorship for the event’s operation and have issued three types of passes. In this, the price of gold pass has been kept at one lakh dollars, silver at 50 thousand US dollars and bronze at 25 thousand US dollars.
Meanwhile, Manmadhan Nair, the organizer of the event in New York, said that he is expecting more than Rs 5 crore from the event. We wanted to give a grand welcome to our Chief Minister and hence sought sponsorship, Nair said. After the program is over, the use of the funds will be audited and made public.
There is no doubt that sponsorship is a common practice in the US, but what we are protesting is that this is a program in which the government is involved, said Ramesh Chennithala, a veteran Congress legislator and former Leader of the Opposition.
Chennithala said, this means that in a government function, only those who have tickets will be able to participate, and those who cannot buy tickets will not be able to participate in the event.
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