Delhi govt has spent Rs 500 crore on publicity: Himachal CM Jai Ram Thakur

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Tuesday attacked his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal, saying the AAP leader as part of his "public relation exercise" has spent "Rs 500 crore" on advertisements and publicity.

"In Himachal Pradesh, our annual budget for publicity is 10 crore," Thakur said while addressing a gathering of BJP members, including 60 to 70 women members, at Trinagar here.

The BJP leader's attack on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener comes ahead of the February 8 Delhi assembly polls.

The women of Delhi will uproot Kejriwal in the polls, Thakur said, adding that they will support the several initiatives and works done by the Modi government for their empowerment.

Alleging that the Kejriwal government had done nothing to improve the city's condition, Thakur said people in Delhi are waiting for the BJP to form government so that they can experience development.

"When I walked in the lanes of Delhi, I only saw dirt, broken roads, clogged potholes. These are not shown in advertisements," the Himachal Pradesh chief minister said.

The Delhi chief minister is running a "PR (public relation) exercise", Thakur said, alleging that "Kejriwal has spent Rs 500 crore only for publicity and advertisements of his government that did nothing to improve the national capital's condition".

Referring to the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests at Shaheen Bagh here, he said there will be no roll back of the law.

"Let them say or do anything till anytime, CAA won't be withdrawn. When we are not against any particular group or community, why should the citizenship law be rejected?" Thakur said.

Union Minister Harsh Vardhan, who was present at the gathering, said he did not want to evaluate Kejriwal's work."His fake promises and advertising speaks for itself, he said

He said,"Kejriwal had called terrorist Afzal Guru a martyr". "He supported the 'tukde tukade gang' of Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khaleed," Vardhan said.