New Delhi: The previous Basavaraj Bommai led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Karnataka has spent Rs 44.42 crore on advertisements over four months leading up to the Assembly elections, an RTI has revealed.
The money, spent between December 1, 2022, and March 29, 2023, was used to promote the BJP’s own initiatives as well as to counter the opposition’s election campaign, the Indian Express reported.
The Department of Information and Public Relations revealed this information in response to a Right to Information Act (RTI) query filed by Puttur-based activist Rajesh Krishnaprasad, the report said.
The RTI response said that the Bommai government spent Rs 27.46 crore on print media and Rs 16.96 crore on electronic media for publicising their schemes besides countering the then Opposition party’s campaigns, such as the Bharat Jodo Yatra and the Mekedatu march.
The details regarding names of the media houses in which the government spent to place advertisements was not revealed by the department, the report said.
The BJP is also said to have received Rs 5,270 crore out of a total of Rs 9,208 crore or 57% of all total electoral bonds sold till 2022, according to an NDTV report.
Krishnaprasad told the Hindu, “It is common for governments to allocate funds for advertising to raise awareness about schemes available to the public, but it is wrong to spend taxpayers’ money ahead of the elections solely to woo voters.”
“The BJP has spent nearly ₹50 crore and some of the ads were placed only to criticise the Opposition. How can the government exchequer spend money on this,” he asked.
The BJP lost the elections securing only 66 seats and got voted out from the only southern state where it was in power, while the Congress secured a comfortable majority by winning 135 of the 224 seats in the recent elections.
Ramalinga Reddy, Congress’ Karnataka chief, said the then BJP government had wasted the taxpayers’ money through this expenditure. The government’s job is to spend money responsibly, he said.
Speaking to the Indian Express, BS Shivanna, general secretary of Karnataka Congress, described it as a crime. “Generally, the government issues advertisements to publicise its schemes. But BJP used it as a tool politically to counter opposition campaigns. If you see, they gave negative advertisements to shield themselves. The public money has been looted by the previous BJP government,” he said.
Ganesh Karnik of the BJP told the Hindu that the amount spent is not huge and with competitive ad pricing, such costs are common. “The Delhi government had spent more than this for government ads,” he alleged.
