NEW DELHI: Delhi BJP on Tuesday welcomed the move of the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) directing Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to recover Rs 97 crore from the AAP for political ads it published in 2016. The AAP, however, said that BJP’s Central government spent Rs 22,000 crore on advertisements, so why doesn’t its party president step forward and tell when it will return the money to the exchequer?
Terming the AAP government a ‘propagandist regime’, state BJP working president Virendra Sachdeva said that the work of the government is visible on ads in papers rather than on the ground. “It is very unfortunate that despite using the taxpayer’s money for the development of the city, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is spending it to shine his face. Misusing government resources for their own good is in the nature of the AAP government,” said Sachdeva.
Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Ranvir Singh Bidhuri alleged that the government has carried out an ‘advertisement scam’ and demanded a CBI inquiry into the matter. Bidhuri claimed that on the request of the BJP, the L-G has asked the Director Vigilance to investigate the matter following which Saxena directed the Chief Secretary to recover this amount.
AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj, however, termed the L-G’s direction a “new love letter” and questioned his intentions behind such a frivolous order. “Following his old habits, the L-G on the behalf of the BJP-led central government has sent CM Arvind Kejriwal another love letter,” Saurabh Bhardwaj said.
Flagged issue with panel first: Maken
Congress leader Ajay Maken welcomed L-G V K Saxena’s decision to recover I97 crore from AAP for the political ads it published in the guise of government advertisements saying, the issue was raised by him five years ago. The ex-minister said he wrote to the L-G on October 4 and had approached the court five years ago over the matter.
“I was the first one to raise this issue and lodge a complaint with the Committee on Content Regulation in Government Advertising (CCRGA),” he said. In 2016, a complaint was filed by the senior Congress leader with the CCRGA over the issue.