BJP attacks AAP over 'advertisement scam', demands CBI inquiry

The Delhi BJP on Tuesday attacked the AAP over Lt Governor V K Saxena directing the chief secretary to recover Rs 97 crore from the ruling party for ''political advertisements''.

Addressing a press conference held here, Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri alleged an ''advertisement scam'' in the AAP-led city government and demanded a CBI inquiry into it.

''We see an advertisement scam here, and demand a CBI inquiry into it. We will approach the LG in this regard,'' he said.

Bidhuri also claimed that the amount to be recovered from the ruling party in Delhi would rise to Rs 400 crore.

While the AAP has not reacted to these allegations, earlier in the day, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party said that the Delhi Lt Governor has no power to pass orders directing the chief secretary to recover Rs 97 crore from the party for ''political advertisements''.

Interacting with reporters here, AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj termed the LG's direction a ''new love letter''.

At a press conference held at Delhi BJP headquarters here, later in the day, BJP MP Manoj Tiwari and the Delhi BJP's working president Virendra Sachdeva were also present during the press conference.

Delhi Lt Governor Saxena has directed the chief secretary to recover Rs 97 crore from the Aam Aadmi Party for political advertisements it published in the guise of government advertisements, official sources said on Tuesday.

The Delhi government's Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP), acting on a 2016 directive from a Committee on Content Regulation in Government Advertising set up by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, had notified that Rs 97.14 crore (Rs 97,14,69,137) had been spent or booked on account of ''non-conforming advertisements'', they said.

The BJP leaders welcomed the direction by the LG to recover Rs 97 crore from the AAP. They also referred to the Supreme Court guidelines issued a few years ago.

In 2015, the apex court had postulated guidelines to regulate government advertising and eliminate unproductive expenditure. Following this, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting formed the three-member Committee on Content Regulation in Government Advertising (CCRGA) in 2016.

Even after the Supreme Court guidelines, the Aam Aadmi Party ''continued to violate'' the guidelines as it had been doing before, Bidhuri alleged. At the press conference, the Delhi Assembly's Leader of Opposition said that in September 2022 he had written a letter the Lt Governor on the ''excess and wasteful expenditure'' being incurred by the Delhi government on advertisements.

''There has been a major increase in the expenditure of the Delhi government on advertising and publicity, rising from about Rs 11 cr in 2012-13 to a budget provision of Rs 675 cr in 2022-23,'' he alleged.

Bidhuri also claimed that in the last 8 years or so, ''about Rs 2,000 crore has been spent on advertisement. There is a big 'vigyapan scam' (advertisement scam) of the Kejriwal government, and a CBI probe should be done''.

Kejriwal government ''broke the rules and spent money on advertisements,'' he alleged.

Sachdeva also hailed the Lt Governor's decision directing the chief secretary to recover Rs 97 crore from the ruling party in Delhi.

''Today, AAP is calling the order of the Lt Governor as another 'love letter', but the truth is that this is not a love letter, it is a white paper of corruption of Delhi government,'' he told reporters.

BJP lawmaker Tiwari alleged that despite the CCRGA's instructions, they did not deposit the money, rather they further spent it wilfully.