Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has termed as “wrong” Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal’s order to recover ₹97 crore from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for alleged expenditure on advertisements. Mr. Kejriwal said the party would challenge it in court.
The Chief Minister’s remark came after Mr. Baijal issued directions to Chief Secretary M. M. Kutty last month, asking him to recover the money the AAP had allegedly “splurged” on advertisements in violation of Supreme Court guidelines. “ The L-G’s order is totally wrong. We will challenge the order in court,” said Mr. Kejriwal.
‘Examine call details’
The L-G had also ordered an inquiry into the expenditure on advertisements and asked the Chief Secretary to fix responsibility.
The Delhi government, meanwhile, has ordered an inquiry of its own, including examining call details of suspected staff, who might have “leaked” copies of the L-G’s order regarding the recovery of ₹97 crore.
“Chief Secretary will conduct an inquiry to ascertain as to how the copies of file notings in which the L-G had directed recovery of ₹97 crore from AAP were leaked to the media. If needed, call details of relevant staff members and visitors’ register, etc may be examined to find out the source of the leak,” a Cabinet order said.
