Delhi government defends ad spend: You don’t understand communication, we do

In its report of August 21, the CAG had observed, “Test check of records of the GNCTD (Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi) brought out expenditure of Rs 24.29 crore on advertisement and publicity campaigns that were not in conformity of fundamental principles governing expenditure from public funds and guidelines approved by the Hon’ble Supreme Court…”.

“They (Opposition) say many advertisements were issued. If you don’t understand communication like the Deputy Chief Minister does, it’s not our problem. I understand communication. I have worked in TV and radio. My department, my team, my party and my government have confidence in my understanding of communication. Advertisements are our way of communicating with the people,” said Sisodia.

He said he had met the CAG and thanked him for the “tight scrutiny” of the DIP.

“… But I said the DIP’s audit was subjective and it should be more objective. There should be a comparative study of four or five states” said Sisodia.

He said he had received queries from the CAG on July 8 and sent his reply on July 18.

In his letter to CAG Shashi Kant Sharma, Sisodia asked, “What was the criterion for selecting GNCTD’s publicity expenditure alone for the audit… ?”

Sisodia wrote that the analogies used by the CAG pointed out two things. “One, what the CAG finds objectionable in the case of GNCTD can be applied with equal force to almost every single advertisement of any state government or that of the Centre. Two, such subjective approach will lead to incongruous and bizarre conclusions….Constitutional bodies like the CAG should keep their head above the political surround sound and not get influenced by political agendas.”

In his reply to the CAG, Sisodia questioned how the Delhi government’s ads had glorified Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal if the Centre’s advertisements, issued on Yoga Day, Swachh Bharat and other schemes, did not glorify Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On its campaigns outside Delhi, Sisodia said states like Jharkhand, Kerala, Rajasthan and Gujarat, among others, had issued advertisements in Delhi.

Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta had alleged that Sisodia had suppressed the CAG report and asked Speaker Ram Niwas Goel to refer the matter to the breach of privilege committee. However, the Deputy CM claimed he received the sealed report on Wednesday evening at 5.30 pm, after Gupta had demanded that it be put before the House.

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Accusing Gupta of leaking excerpts to the media even before it was placed before the Assembly, Sisodia said, “The copy of the report was only with the Lieutenant Governor and the secretary (finance). We have full faith in the secretary (finance). The leader of opposition must now tell us how he got the report.”

He also urged the Speaker to take action against Gupta. Goel then referred the matter to the House Privilege Committee.