Slamming the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for spending nearly 526 crore on publicity, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday asked former to come forward to reveal about his advertisement expenditures to Delhi's public.
"We have been telling this from the starting that the governments publicize themselves, but that's not the question. The way advertisement's budget was nearly 23 crore only in yesteryear. Sheila Dixit's government was there. She also used to spend around 10-12-15 crore yearly," BJP's Delhi unit chief Satish Upadhyay told ANI.
"The way they (AAP) have spent advertisement budget of 526 crore rupees on self, Delhi's public surely wants to ask that in this 526 crore, they could have installed 5 lakh cameras, women security could have been bettered, 200 new schools and 50 new colleges could have been opened for students' brighter future. But advertisement will not make their future as you are just advertising just for yourselves," he added.
He further said that there has been no change in the situation of many colonies in the capital since the time the Congress was in power.
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"You could have brought 2000 new buses, AC buses in Delhi and you could have solved Delhi's traffic problem, but you paid no heed to them. You could have looked after the 1,000 unauthorized colonies, where there are electricity and water problems. From Congress' time till now there has been no development work in these colonies," Upadhyay suggested.
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"You could have given 1 year pension to 5 lakh people. Delhi's youngsters were looking up to you to as you had promised WiFi to them and could have given employment to 1-2 lakh people. You could have used this money for development. But you didn't do any of these," he further pointed out.
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"Kejriwal should reveal about the advertisement expenditures, including TV ad, FM ad and Delhi ads to Delhi's public. They want to know how much was spent on full-page ads in cities, like Bombay, Calcutta, Patna and Bangalore. Who will benefit from this? You are spending Delhi publics' tax money on your advertisement, just to make yourself known," he added.
Upadhyay also used this occasion to slam Kejriwal for politicizing former president A. P. J. Abdul Kalam's sudden demise.
"Not only this, you didn't stop politicizing Bharat Ratna Kalam's death, stating that you are removing PM's ad because you want to pay tribute to Kalam. On the emotional level, just for your political benefit, you have paid tribute to Kalam in whole of Delhi. Everybody should do it. But had you done this with honesty, it would have been understood," he added.
BJP has put up a series of hoardings questioning the Delhi Government's expenditure on its advertisement campaign.
