New Delhi: The Delhi Directorate of Information and Publicity has issued a notice to the Aam Aadmi Party to pay back Rs 164 crore for political advertising on government funds. It has also been informed that the Aam Aadmi Party head office will be sealed if the amount is not repaid within 10 days.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinay Kumar Saxena had on December 20 directed the Delhi Chief Secretary to recover Rs 97 crore from the Aam Aadmi Party for using government money for political advertisements in violation of Supreme Court guidelines. Accordingly, this notice has been issued on Wednesday.
In the notice of the Directorate of Information and Publicity, Delhi Government, it is stated, “This is the last chance to repay Rs. 163 crores 61 lakhs 88 thousand 265. The payment should be made within 10 days of this notice to the bank account given therein. Failure to do so will result in legal action.”
An official, who did not wish to be named, said, “Of this amount, Rs. 99 crore 31 lakh 10 thousand 053 is the amount spent on advertisement till March 31, 2017, and the remaining Rs. 64 crore 30 lakh 78 thousand 212 is interest.”
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has posted about the notice on his Twitter page. In that, the Lt. Governor and BJP are also misleading the government officials of Delhi. They continue to target the ministers elected by the people and the Aam Aadmi Party without doing any kind of public service. “That’s why they want to keep controlling the ‘services’,” he said.
Earlier, the Delhi Lieutenant Governor had directed the state chief secretary to recover Rs 97 crore from the Aam Aadmi Party during the elections for doing political advertisements with government funds in violation of Supreme Court guidelines. The Aam Aadmi Party, which had responded to this at the time, had said, “The Governor does not have the authority to issue such an order.”
Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “BJP is angry because we have grown as a national party and have taken over the Delhi Corporation. The Lt. Governor is acting on BJP’s instructions, which is causing the people of Delhi to suffer. The more the people of Delhi are suffering, the more the BJP is happy.”
It is noteworthy that in Delhi, where the BJP is not in power, there is a constant trend of conflict between the Lt. Governor and the state government.
