Dehradun, Jun 20: Refuting allegations by the opposition Congress, Uttarakhand government today (Jun 20) said BJP President Nitin Gadkari and his family bore the entire expenditure of their Chardham pilgrimage in the state.

Gadkari and his family paid the rent of the helicopters used by them and they also met the hotel expenses during their visit, chairman of state media advisory committee, Devendra Bhasin, said.

Dismissing as "baseless" allegations of the Congress in this regard, Bhasin said Uttarakhand government incurred no expenditure on Chardham yatra of Gadkari and his family.

Congress MLA Kishore Upadhyay and Lok Sabha MP Vijay Bahuguna had accused the BJP government of spending public money on visits of their leaders.

Bhasin said when a person undertakes a pilgrimage, he spends his own money as this is a question of his faith. "The Congress leaders should have inquired the matter first before levelling such allegations as they have hurt the personal faith of the BJP leader," he said.

Bhasin claimed that Congress leaders "are getting frustrated due to rising popularity graph of BJP government" in Uttarakhand where assembly elections are due early next year.

During his four-day visit to Uttarakhand that ended yesterday, Gadkari paid obeisance at the four Himalayan shrines of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri besides holding talks with party leaders in view of coming assembly elections.

PTI