Manish Sisodia questions Centre’s social media campaigns in letter to PM office

The letter comes over a week after the CBI initiated a probe against Sisodia over alleged irregularities in the ‘Talk To AK’ campaign which was the maiden interactive session of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal with the public using social media. The talk in which Sisodia too was present was held on July 17, 2016.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday wrote a letter to Nripendra Mishra, principal secretary to the Prime Minister, seeking details on the social media campaigns launched by the Centre to promote its flagship schemes.

Making a counter attack, the Deputy CM in his letter questioned social media campaigns for Make in India, Digital India and Start-Up India initiatives. (Virendra Singh Gosain/Hindustan Times)

The letter comes over a week after the CBI initiated a probe against Sisodia over alleged irregularities in the ‘Talk To AK’ campaign, the maiden interactive session of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal with the public, using social media.

The talk in which Sisodia too was present was held on July 17, 2016.

Making a counter attack, the Deputy CM in his letter questioned social media campaigns for Make in India, Digital India and Start-Up India initiatives.

Further, Sisodia asked if any bidding was conducted for giving advertising in Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other platforms for its flagship campaigns.

“For advertising in such platforms, payments are done through credit limits or credit cards. Credit card of which department, government agency or private agency was used for ads on social media for the mentioned projects?” he asked. Another question was if the ads on these platforms were also sent out for users in Pakistan.

In the “Talk to AK” programme, Kejriwal had covered a wide array of issues linked to the strained relations between the Centre and the Delhi government - including the possibility of disqualification of 21 parliamentary secretaries, jurisdiction over the Delhi Police and the arrest of his principal secretary Rajendra Kumar by the CBI.

Launched more than a year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s monthly radio programme Mann Ki Baat, Kejriwal’s interaction was live streamed on the website www.talktoak.com. The programme had generated huge interest, AAP leaders had said.

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