New Delhi: Taking a dig at Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party Government, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday said it is spending money on advertisements for ‘self-glorification’ and ‘publicity’ and not bothered about the poor people of Delhi.
” AAP has become a party all about publicity. We should remind Arvind Kejriwal of two things- the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and many of its workers have not been paid salaries since months. He has always maintained that there is no money. So, this is the way you are spending money on advertisements and self-glorification,” BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told ANI.
“The Aam Aadmi Party had earmarked Rs. 536 crore for its advertisements. We today learn that it has already spent Rs. 60 crore in just seven months. We are aware of the fact that all these advertisements are nothing but praise of Arvind Kejriwal as an individual. These have hardly to do anything with public connection,” he added.
Patra further reminded Kejriwal that as many as seven people have died in Delhi because of the cold weather, but he is not bothered about them.
“Couldn’t you have provided these people with blankets? Couldn’t you have provided these poor people with cold dwellings? You were busy spending this money for self-glorification and that’s the reason you couldn’t do this for the poor people of Delhi,” he said.
Earlier, the Arvind Kejriwal-led government has claimed before the Central Information Commission that no advertising agency has been hired by Delhi Government to do its publicity work.
Delhi Government has allocated Rs. 526.74 crore for the purpose of information and publicity which is claimed before the Delhi High Court as the outer limit to be spent for the purpose of dissemination of information and publicity.
The Arvind Kejriwal-led dispensation had clarified its stand saying total budget for advertising is for a sum of Rs. 40,000 crore, out of which Rs. 523 crore is earmarked for information and publicity which comes to 1.518 percent.
“From the date of the Supreme Court judgement in question, that is from May 13, 2015 and till date, a sum of Rs. 22.33 crore has been spent on print, electronic media as well as outdoor publicity which works out to approx. Rs. eight crore per month from May 13, 2015,” it had said in an affidavit filed before Delhi High Court in August last year. (ANI)