Karam Prakash
New Delhi, January 12
Adding to the woes of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), its government in Delhi has ordered it to pay over Rs 163 crore for allegedly publishing political advertisements in the guise of government advertisements. AAP has to pay the money within 10 days or face legal action. After getting a notice in this regard, the party has written back to the Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP) asking for the details of the advertisements that violated the guidelines. Terming it an “advertisement scam”, the BJP has demanded that the bank accounts of AAP should be frozen. The BJP said the money, which was supposed to be used for development, had been used to “propagate AAP leaders”. In its notice to AAP, the DIP has asked the party to reimburse Rs 99.31 crore spent on advertisements. The remaining Rs 64.31 crore is the penalty on this amount.
‘Party violated norms’
AAP ‘violated’ norms by using party name instead of that of the govtPublished views of the CM on incidents in other statesIssued ads outside the territory of Delhi
Sources said the AAP government had allegedly violated guidelines by using the party name instead of that of the government; publishing views of the CM on incidents that took place in other states; and issuing advertisements outside the territory of Delhi on various occasions during 2016-17.
AAP alleged that the BJP was misusing IAS officers posted in Delhi to target it.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia alleged that the officers were being misused by the BJP to deter the AAP government from carrying out development works.
