Siddaramaiah's official trips on special flights, choppers cost Rs 47 crore, Karnataka Assembly told

Belagavi: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah flew on special flights, aircraft and helicopters, spending Rs 47.38 crore at taxpayers' expense between May 2023 and November 2025.

Siddaramaiah, who is also the finance minister, provided this information to the Legislative Council in a written reply to a question by BJP’s N Ravikumar.

In his question, Ravikumar sought details on the reasons for which aircraft were hired by the CM over the past two-and-half years.

Siddaramaiah stated that renting out aircraft or helicopters for official trips of the Governor, the Chief Minister and the Chief Justice was exempt from the provisions of the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act.

In the past two-and-a-half years, Siddaramaiah spent over Rs 5 crore to fly from Bengaluru to his native Mysuru. The two cities are just two hours apart by road. He has flown to Mysuru 22 times. On one occasion, Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot’s round-trip Bengaluru-Mysuru flight cost Rs 23.18 lakh.

Siddaramaiah’s other flight trips included New Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai.

According to an analysis of the data, Siddaramaiah, on an average, booked a helicopter or special flight once every five days. Flights and helicopters for the CM were booked 180 times in his current term.

In 2023-24, Siddaramaiah flew 48 times, which cost Rs 12.23 crore. In 2024-25, he flew 85 times, raising a bill of Rs 21.11 crore. In the current fiscal, aircraft and helicopters were booked 48 times costing Rs Rs 14.03 crore.

Of the 181 bookings, 180 were through GMP Air Charters. The remaining one was from GoJets Aviation.

According to the reply, the CM has used special flights, aircraft and helicopters only for official visits.