New Delhi, July 13: After the Congress accused the Modi government of usurping 40 per cent funds allocated to various ministries by Parliament for publicity, the BJP on Thursday hit back, saying it is natural that logic and common sense will “take a nosedive” when Rahul Gandhi is at the helm of affairs in the grand old party. Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh on Thursday said the Ministry of Finance on May 19 ordered that 40 per cent of the funds voted by Parliament for ‘Advertising and Publicity’ in various departments or ministries should be placed at the disposal of the Central Bureau of Communication (CBC) in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. In a tweet, Ramesh alleged that by doing so the government has undermined the sanctity of the Budget voted by Parliament.
Responding to Ramesh’s allegation, BJP IT department head Amit Malviya said in a tweet, “Here is your tutorial for the day… The move to request advance Letter of Authorization is, therefore, not unprecedented in GOI (government of India)”. “It was done even during UPA,” he said. Malviya said that one ministry allocating funds to another from its own budget is “a usual practice” in central government. He further said the CBC is a “360 degrees communication solutions provider” for the Union government and its entities. The CBC acts as an advisory body to the government on media strategy and aims at branding the government as “a facilitator of the people’s empowerment”, The BJP functionary said.
“The CBC uses various vehicles of communication such as print, audio-visual, outdoor, digital and new media, exhibitions, folk and traditional forms, to disseminate information,” he added. Along with his tweet, the BJP leader also posted the May 19 office memorandum of the Finance Ministry, highlighting in document the part where the ministry has asked the concerned ministries/departments to carry out regular reconciliation of transaction as per rules while placing 40 per cent of the Budget allocated to them “under the object head, advertising and publicity at the disposal of CBC”.(PTI)
