Opposition parties today hit out at the government for launching a publicity blitz on its initiatives at public expense.
"It is shocking that at the government expense again they are explaining how the loot of public money happened. If this is the counter-narrative the I&B Minister is engaged in with public funds, it is objectionable," BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said here.
CPI leader D Raja also objected to the publicity campaign launched by the government saying such moves cannot "hoodwink" the people.
"They cannot take people for granted. They cannot hope to hoodwink people through high power advertisment campaign," Raja said.
I&B Minister Manish Tewari defended the media campaign saying that the government had the remit to put information in the public space.
"The I&B Ministry has the remit to disseminate information to the public. We did it in 2007, we did it in 2009, in 2012 and we are doing it again in 2013," Tewari said.
The minister said everything has been done in a transparent manner and the government was accountable to Parliament for the taxpayers' money.
Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said the schemes and initiatives launched by the government had not got the publicity they deserved.
The government today launched a series of audio-visual clips as a part of its multi media campaign to highlight its achievements and showcase impact of UPA's policies in the last nine years.
The audio video clips have been directed by Bollywood filmmaker Pradip Sarkar of 'Parineeta' fame.
