According to a report by a survey organization, the Aam Aadmi Party had spent more than 70 crores in advertisements since April 2015 to December 2017 while the earlier government by Congress had spent around 17 crores on the advertisements during its rule from 2008 to 2013. The data said that the AAP led by Kejriwal who projects his image as a common man has spent Rs. 60 crores on advertisement in the year 2015 and in the subsequent year 2016 it had spent Rs 66.3 crore and in 2017 the party spent Rs 70 crore. These figures were confirmed by the Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP).
The Bhartiya Janta Party workers staged a protest outside the official residence of present chief minister Arvind Kejriwal accusing him of pushing the capital city at least thirty years behind in development. The Member of Parliament from Northeast Delhi, Mr. Tiwari, while addressing his party workers said that in three years of his governance Mr. Kejriwal has pushed the capital city at least thirty years behind in terms development.
Mr. Arvind Kejriwal was accused by the Mr. Tiwari of using the money for advertisement and not on the development of the capital city. He said that Minister Satyendra Jain’s corruption case was a big blow for the party and this was the reason that this year Chief Minister was celebrating the third anniversary with few people inside a closed hall and he is afraid to face people directly.
Taking another jibe at Aam Aadmi party, Mr. Tiwari said that the party which used to preach honesty has now become dishonest as 20 members were disqualified by the President himself. Mr. Kejriwal, on the other hand, is saying that they have been able to complete only half of them because the government has to face many obstacles. He also accused that the Central government is trying to rule Delhi through a proxy as Lieutenant Governor. He asked the people of Delhi to have faith in the government.
The example of extra spending was last year when the party completed its second anniversary in 2017, all the leading newspapers had a full first-page advertisement regarding the work done by the government. The government also made banners and flashing pictures of Chief Minister and other important ministers of cabinet. The Aam Aadmi Party’s expenditure on advertisements saw a 300% rise compared to Congress reign from 2008-13.
But according to the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DIP), there has been price increment in the fees of advertising on the front page of a leading newspaper by around seventeen percent. In 2017, Lt. governor Anil Baijal had put the party in a tough situation when he asked to return almost 90 crores which AAP was spending in the advertisement of the party instead of the government. This order was based on a report by the Committee on Content Regulation in Government Advertising.
