By IANS,
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Sunday accused Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit of acting in an “undemocratic” manner by removing the hoardings put up the party to create awareness among the people. Dikshit denied the allegations and sent the BJP a defamation notice.
“Through these hoardings we were spreading general awareness on issues concerning the people. The government has in a single day illegally pulled down all the hoardings put up at 30 different sites,” MCD house leader Subhash Arya told IANS.
The legal notice from Dikshit was sent to Delhi BJP chief Vijendra Gupta for “advertisements based on untrue, false and unsubstantiated allegations leading to defamation of the chief minister”.
A press note from Dikshit’s office said: “A notice has been sent to Gupta to tender an unconditional public apology within three days and withdraw all false allegations and derogatory statements made by him in various advertisements, failing which he would face strict legal action.”
As per the legal notice, the numerous huge hoardings at various prominent locations across Delhi violated the outdoor advertisement policy approved by Supreme Court.
“Two basic reasons for issuance of the notice – the protection of high moral and ethical standards of public discourse and secondly, to vindicate the honor and reputation which has been recklessly tarnished and maligned for serving selfish political interests,” the press note said.
Arya claimed that all hoardings were completely legal, as the party had gone through the proper channels to pay for the authorised advertising sites.
Arya also alleged that there had been no written order by any authority to pull down these hoardings.
“The MCD had auctioned several sites after the Supreme Court’s permission. Our party used only those legal sites. Then why should the government pull down these hoardings?” he asked.
“The BJP would again use these hoardings as the party has already paid for it. If the government stops us again we will go to the court against the anarchical step of the Delhi government,” Arya said.
Yogender Chandolia, chairman of the MCD standing committee, alleged the government “does not care for the public, instead they are using the government machinery for their own benefit”.
“We will build up a public campaign against the undemocratic action of Delhi government. We shall compel them to reduce the electricity tariff,” Chandolia added.
A 20 percent reduction in power tariff which was proposed by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) was blocked by the Delhi government. A day before the scheduled announcement of the new reduced tariff, the government directed the DERC to withhold the order till it gave the regulator the go-ahead.