The Congress and the BJP are resorting to RTI to "expose" the tall and "false" claims of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal as his Delhi model of governance gains traction in poll-bound Gujarat.
Both the parties are seeking information under RTI.
While addressing mediapersons here, Congress party national spokesman Ajoy Kumar termed Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP an "advertising party" which is wasting public money on self publicity. "For example, during Congress' regime in Delhi under chief minister late Sheila Dixit, the annual advertising budget of Delhi government was just Rs 11 crore, against Arvind kejriwal government's Rs 81 crore in 2015. In 2021-22 this expenditure increased manifold to touch Rs 490 crore," he said.
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Recently, Kumar said, the Punjab government gave Rs 36 crore advertisement to Gujarat's news media as the state is going for general Assembly elections and AAP has a political interest in the state. This was done despite it not being able to pay timely and full salaries to its government college staff, he said.
Taking on the AAP, BJP's media coordinator Yagnesh Dave shared RTI replies on his Twitter handle and alleged that AAP government in Delhi provided employment to 3,246 people against the claim of 12 lakh.
From 2015 till 2021, only 2,154 LDC and 463 stenographers were appointed in the national capital, besides 720 appointments in GDMOs and 270 in non teaching staff, Dave claimed.
Though Kejriwal is trying to "mislead the people with false claims", he will fail miserably, once "exposed", the BJP leader added.