AAP, BJP spar over rise in allocation to buy phones

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday criticised the Delhi government’s decision for allowing the Chief Minister and Ministers to spend ₹1.5 lakh and ₹1.25 lakh respectively, on mobile phones.

Taking a dig at the BJP, AAP Delhi president Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “A committee was formed to give ₹2,500 to women on March 8. But not a single woman received ₹2,500 so far. They should have formed a committee for their phones too, they would have discussed for years how much a phone should cost.”

“This is a government that celebrates festivals in a famine. After Maya Mahal and Rang Mahal [for Chief Minister Rekha Gupta], they now want to blow up lakhs of taxpayers’ money on the latest phones, despite having official telephone access,” AAP MLA Anil Jha said.

Defending the government’s decision, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said that mobile phones used by public representatives work as their record rooms, and party leaders use high-quality phones for security purpose.

“When you [AAP] have an objection to CM’s eligibility of having a phone worth ₹1.5 lakh, then, please say something about the cars worth ₹1.43 crore purchased between 2015 and 2022 by then CM Arvind Kejriwal,” Mr. Kapoor said in a post on X.