Akhilesh alleges UP govt misused public funds for political ads, promises probe

Lucknow: SP president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday alleged that the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh dispensation misused government funds for issuing political advertisements through the Information Department and said his party will order an inquiry into it if it is voted to power in the upcoming assembly polls.

The Information Department's job is to promote the government's development schemes and not political propaganda, the Samajwadi Party leader said in a statement issued here. Yadav said if the SP is voted to power this year, it will order a probe into how much money was spent on advertisements, hoardings etc., for the BJP's political campaign by the Information Department. The officers who are found guilty will also be investigated, he said. Ever since the BJP came to power, it has done nothing except misusing power, the SP leader charged.

The SP never used government funds, whereas the BJP seems to have no hesitation in misusing them. Since coming to power in 2017, the BJP has continuously used government funds and resources for party campaigns, Yadav alleged.

This is the difference between the BJP and the Samajwadi Party, he said, ostensibly referring to the saffron party's poll campaign catchline 'farq saaf hai (the difference is clear)' used to compare the work done by its government with that of the erstwhile dispensations.

Yadav said people know about the development work done by the SP government because work speaks for itself.

The BJP has to blow its own trumpet to falsely claim the work done by the SP government as its own. This is the difference between the functioning of the two parties,

he said.