Kejriwal’s tongue had to be trimmed as he spoke against PM: Parrikar

The BJP and the Congress on Saturday attacked Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal government for violating the Supreme Court guidelines and spending taxpayers’ money on advertisements after a panel set up by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry ordered it to reimburse the amount so spent.

In its order issued on Friday, the Committee came to the conclusion that the Government of Delhi has violated guidelines issued by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in six of the nine areas listed by the complainant.

“The Committee further directs the Government of NCT of Delhi to get the entire expenditure so incurred on the above mentioned category of advertisements reimbursed to the State exchequer from the Aam Admi Party”, the order of the Committee on Content Regulation of government advertisements has held.

Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, while addressing the workers, said the concept of mohalla clinics introduced by AAP in Goa is “unwarranted” as BJP-led government has already made treatment in the private hospitals and government-run hospitals free of cost by introducing health insurance scheme. “As per the Order of the Committee, AAP is liable to reimburse the Delhi government a sum of more than Rs 854 crore”, he said.

“This is clearly a ploy of the BJP to target and defame the Delhi government”.

The state government informed the committee that they were in the process of appointing their own panel for regulating the content of government advertisements. The ads on issues outside the jurisdiction of the state government, like on the Dadri lynching, were seen to be out of sync with the SC guideline that “the advertisement campaigns to be related to government responsibilities”. “It (the Centre) has done a number of flip-flops in the case”, said a government spokesperson.

In two allegations in this regard – augmentation of bus fleet in the capital and Rs 350 crore saved in construction of elevated corridor – the panel has asked the Delhi government to verify the facts and take appropriate action.

Gupta alleged that the AAP has spent the money to improve the image of its party leaders in the public domain and to mislead the people. “We condemn the photo-op activities of (Delhi Tourism Minister) Kapil Mishra in the name of One Delhi”, Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unit chief Satish Upadhyay told reporters here.

A civil defamation suit has also been filed by Jaitley before the Delhi High Court in relation to the matter seeking Rs 10 crore in damages.