New Delhi/IBNS: The Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP) has issued a notice to Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Admi Party (AAP), asking it to pay Rs 163.62 crore in 10 days for its political advertisements allegedly published in the garb of government advertisements, media reported.

The development comes days after Delhi Lieutenant Governor K Saxena directed the chief secretary to recover Rs 97 crore from AAP for political advertisements it put up posing as government advertisements.

A report in the media quoted a source as saying that if the AAP convener, Arvind Kejriwal, fails to furnish the amount, all legal actions including attachment of the properties of the party, shall be taken in a time-bound manner, as per the earlier order of the Delhi LG.

The report further quoted the source as saying that Rs 99.31 crore pertains to the principal amount due on political advertisements till March 31, 2017, while Rs 64.31 crore is the penal interest on this amount.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and AAP leader, Manish Sisodia lashed out at the LG and the BJP over the order, claiming that the officials were misused against elected ministers and the ruling AAP.

Reacting to AAP’s outburst, BJP’s spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said that “they should pay up instead of playing the victim card” and called it “AAP - Aur Advertisement-vali Party”.