The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday denied that it had spent Rs 63.23 crore-- the figure given by the comptroller and auditor general-- on the 'India Shining' media campaign and asserted that the initiative had parliamentary approval.
"We have not spent that much. We have spent a limited amount," BJP vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu said, without specifying the exact figure spent on the campaign.
He said the campaign was part of the 'India Development Initiative' for which Parliament had given its approval.
The campaign never sought to promote either the BJP or the National Democratic Alliance, Naidu said.
In sharp contrast, various state governments were issuing full-page newspaper advertisements with Congress president Sonia Gandhi's pictures and not that of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he charged.
The CAG had pulled up the previous NDA government for diverting funds and incurring unauthorised expenditure of Rs 63.23 crore for the media campaign.
