Actress Rekha gives Rs 2.5 cr from her MP funds to Rae Bareli

Veteran Bollywood actress and Rajya Sabha member Rekha has given Rs 2.5 crore from her MPLAD funds to Rae Bareli, the parliamentary constituency of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, an official said on Wednesday.

The funds are being used for construction of roads, supply of water and putting up of new transformers for better electricity supply.

Officials said that so far they have received Rs 1.06 crore from the Rs 1.42 crore sanctioned from the funds of Rekha Ganeshan, and the remaining will come when the utilization certificate of the projects undertaken by these funds are submitted.

According to a source close to the Congress president and looking after her work in Rae Bareli, it is not unusual for any Rajya Sabha MP to give funds to the constituency of his or her choice. The source added that the actress herself had met Sonia Gandhi and expressed her desire to spend her MPLAD fund at Rae Bareli.

So far, work that has been done by this fund includes installation of solar lights, construction of interlocking and Cement Concrete roads.

Rekha was nominated as member of the Upper House in April 2012 by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) II regime. Her tenure as Rajya Sabha member expires on April 26, 2018.