15 June,2010 08:14 AM IST | | Surender Sharma
Sheila Dikshit serves notice over 'misleading' posters, Vijender Gupta threatens moving court
Even as Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is yet to come to terms with a BJP poster showing him hand in hand with his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi, another turf war is brewing in the power corridors of Delhi over wall graffiti.
Face off: Delhi BJP chief Vijender Gupta (right) has vowed a befitting
reply to the legal notice served on him by chief minister Sheila Dikshit
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The alleged misleading posters over power tarrif in Delhi by the state BJP got hotter on Monday when the party's newly-appointed chief Vijender Gupta expressed his readiness to pick up the gauntlet thrown by chief minister Sheila Dikshit.
"I will reply in the court," Gupta told MiD DAY, reacting to Dikshit's assertion that if he will not tender an unconditional apology for alleging that she ordered the removal of the BJP propaganda, Gupta may have to face legal action.
"The chief minister is trying to browbeat me by threatening me with a legal notice. She wants to divert the attention from the real issues," the former corporator said.
The Delhi BJP had bought around 50 locations in different parts of the city for the display of advertisements from private operators running these kiosks. These included 25 bus stops and 20 sites designated by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) for the display of advertisement.
The graffiti was installed on Thursday and Friday last week. However, DTC and MCD officials removed around 45 advertisements on a single day on Saturday.u00a0
The hoardings stated that Dikshit government was misrepresenting the facts before the people of Delhi on power tariff. The advertisements also claimed that the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) was going to recommend reduction in power tariff but the "chief minister came in the way". In some of them the party had demanded from the Delhi government to make public the financial accounts of power companies.
The hoardings were erected at Pusa Road, Karol Bagh, Shankar Road, Hari Nagar, Jhandewalan, Delhi Gate, Rani Jhansi Road, Najafgarh Road, Rajendra Nagar Road, New Rohatk Road, Filmistan and Subzi Mandi.
After the advertisements were removed, the on Sunday held chief minister responsible for the act, alleging that MCD and DTC worked at the behest of chief minister. The same day Sheila Dikshit's office issued a statement, asking Gupta to tender a public apology for the 'slander'.
| MCD joins in |
| Leader of Opposition in the MCD Jaikishen Sharma joined the issue on Monday. "The ads put up by the BJP were against the Advertisement Policy approved by the Supreme Court of India in 2007."u00a0 |
