Deputy Governor VK Saxena with Minister and AAP boss Arvind Kejriwal at an event. (File)
New Delhi:
A few days after AAP conducted a successful polling campaign for Delhi’s civic body, the Deputy Governor ordered that the party pay Rs 97 crore for alleged state government advertisements. was used to promote the party 5 years ago. The AAP said the deputy governor has no authority to issue such orders – calling it “a new love letter”.
Earlier this month, the AAP, in power on the Delhi council since 2015, ended the BJP’s 15-year reign at the Delhi Municipal Corporation (MCD).
Governor VK Saxena took action on the ad because AAP allegedly violated the orders of the High Court (2015) and the Delhi High Court (2016), in addition to the rules authorized by the Commission court on the Regulation of Content in Government Advertising (2016), news agency ANI reported.
The Secretary-General has been directed to recover the money spent from the Delhi government funds.
AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj questioned the legality of the guidelines after the order was reported in the media this morning and pointed to “advertising by other state governments”.
“The various state governments of BJP have released the advertisements that have been published here (in Delhi). We would like to ask: When will Rs 22,000 crore spent on ads be recovered from them, “The AAP MLA said, “On the day that money is withdrawn, we will also provide Rs 97 crore.”
He added, “The BJP is confused because we became a national party and took power from it in the MCD. LG. saheb is doing everything under the direction of the BJP, and that is troubling the people of Delhi. The more anxious the people of Delhi, the happier the BJP.”
The AAP accused the “political revenge” of the Deputy Governor, who is appointed by the central government and has control over several branches of Delhi’s government in a complex – often confusing and contradictory – distribution of power in the national capital.
Conflicts between the successive appointees of the BJP’s Narendra Modi government and Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP government have been frequent, ranging from accusations of mutual corruption and conflicting orders on administrative matters. main.
The advertising problem dates back to 2017, when the Delhi government’s Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP) – acting on a 2016 directive by a committee set up by the Union Government on a court order – said Rs 97.14 crore was spent or booked on “inappropriate advertising”.
“Of these, while payments amounting to more than Rs 42.26 crore have been issued by DIP, Rs 54.87 crore for published advertisements is still pending disbursement,” PTI news agency quoted the news agency as saying. a source said.
The Board of Directors in 2017 first requested AAP for an immediate payment of Rs 42.26 crore to the state treasury and a direct payment of Rs 54.87 crore pending to advertising or publication companies , in 30 days. “However, even after five years and eight months have passed, AAP is still not complying with the DIP order,” the source added, according to PTI.
