New Delhi [India], March 30 : Aam Aadmi Party's Delhi Convenor Saurabh Bharadwaj took a jibe at the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday, asking how the Delhi government has funds for full-page advertisement after Chief Minister Rekha Gupta accused the former of emptying the national capital's treasury.
"When there was talk of giving Rs 2,500 to the people of Delhi, CM Rekha Gupta said that AAP emptied the coffers of Delhi and left, but today full-page advertisements have been published in all the newspapers of Delhi. This means that you (BJP) have a lot of money," AAP's Delhi convenor told ANI.
Attacking the BJP and asking whether the party believes in only campaigning against AAP, Bharadwaj continued, "Now BJP should tell whether in principle they were in favour of campaigning or against the campaigning or their fight was only against AAP's campaigning?"
Earlier in a post on X, Bharadwaj had posted advertisement pictures of Delhi government's recent campaign of 'Viksit Delhi,' posted on various newspapers today.
https://x.com/Saurabh_MLAgk/status/1906220899755258283
"Full-page advertisements in all newspapers. A few days ago, the Chief Minister was saying that the government treasury is empty. Now no one will make any noise? Now no judge will be troubled?" Bharadwaj's post read.
On March 29, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, during a discussion on the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit report on the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), alleged that DTC suffered a loss of Rs 70,471 crore under the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.
"They turned a profitable department into a loss-making one. DTC suffered a loss of Rs 70,471 crore. There was an operational loss of Rs 14,198 crore. Buses were run on only 468 routes out of 814. Money was spent only on advertisements. Even the Rs 233 crore received from the Centre was not spent. There used to be 4344 buses, but during their tenure, the number reduced to 3937," Delhi CM said.
She further alleged that IDFC, a DTC partner agency, had advised the Delhi government to purchase its shares.
"They did not accept, and IDFC sold the shares worth 95 crores to a private company for just 10 crores. Did the government not have even 10 crores? Today, the value of DTC is only 20 crores. They crippled DTC. Today 4 thousand bus drivers are being paid salaries without work because there are no buses," she said.
CM Rekha Gupta said that the CAG report should be sent to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
She added, "We will not only bring DTC into profit but will also make DTC a revenue generator. We will issue cards for free travel to women. Today, there is no data on how many women are travelling for free."