Sisodia slams BJP as AAP asked to pay Rs 160 cr for political ads

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of wielding unconstitutional control over officials in the national capital to target the city government and its ministers.

In a related development, Aam Aadmi Party's national secretary Pankaj Kumar Gupta has written to DIP stating that the demand of Rs 163.62 crore is 'arbitrary' and 'perverse' as he sought the copies of advertisements whose costs are to be recovered.

Addressing a press conference, following the issuance of a notice to AAP to pay Rs 163.62 crore for its political advertisements allegedly published in the garb of government advertisements, Sisodia said even advertisements of BJP chief ministers are published in Delhi's newspapers.

"Will BJP also recover money from them? I want to tell BJP to stop misusing Delhi's officials to target Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the ministers of Delhi government," he told reporters.

The minister also said the party has sought a list of advertisements from the DIP secretary to see what is illegal in them.

'Look at the illegitimate use of the unconstitutional control over Delhi's officers -- BJP asked Delhi government's Directorate of Information and Publicity Secretary Alice Vaz (IAS) to issue a notice to recover the cost of advertisements given in outside states from Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

'In Delhi's newspapers, the advertisements of several BJP CMs of other states are published and hoardings of their CMs are all over Delhi. Will costs of those be recovered from BJP CMs?

'Is it for this reason that BJP wants to keep unconstitutional control over Delhi officers?' Sisodia had said earlier in the day in a series of tweets in Hindi.

The development of the recovery notice came nearly a month after Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena directed the chief secretary to recover Rs 97 crore from the AAP for political advertisements it published under the veneer of government advertisements.

"The recovery notice issued by the Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP) also includes the interest on the amount and makes it mandatory for the ruling party in Delhi to pay the whole amount within 10 days," sources had said on Wednesday.

"If the AAP convener fails to do so, all consequential legal action including attachment of the properties of the party shall be taken in time bound manner, as per the earlier order of the Delhi LG," a source had said.