AAP appoints media consultant

The Aam Aadmi Party, which has been facing criticism from political opponents in Delhi over its style of functioning and alleged fondness for advertisements, has now sought professional help for image building and media management. The Delhi Government has appointed public relations firm Perfect Relations as its “media consultant”. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s media adviser, Arunodya Prakash, confirmed the same

to ANI.

Perfect Relations was established and co-founded in 1992 in Delhi by image consultants and media commentators Dilip Cherian and Bobby Kewalramani.

The cost of hiring the consultant will be met from within the Rs. 200-crore allocations for the department in the 2016-17 budget. This includes money already spent and to be spent on advertisements this fiscal.

There has, however, been no official confirmation in this regard from the PR agency. The AAP government had last year set aside Rs. 526 crore for information and publicity in the 2015-16 budget, drawing severe criticism from both the BJP and Congress.

Earlier, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had assailed the AAP government, saying it was using advertising funds to manipulate the media. Mr. Jaitley alleged that media houses critical of the AAP were being denied ads. — ANI