New Delhi: Alleging that the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) had directed various Ministries and Departments to allocate funds for the Government's "India Shining" campaign, Congress today (April 1, 2004) demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the "misuse" of taxpayers' money and punishment to those involved in it.

Congress spokesman Kapil Sibal, distributed copies of a letter purportedly written by Sudheendra Kulkarni, OSD in PMO, to Prasar Bharati CEO K S Sarma asking him to immediately start a publicity campaign on Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR) highlighting achievements of the Government.

Reacting to the allegation, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary Pramod Mahajan said, "The PMO has the right to put out such advertisements before the model code of conduct comes into force."

Sibal said "a meeting was held on February 10, 2004, in Prime Minister's Office at the initiative of Dr S Narayan, Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister, to review the progress of the publicity campaign. Kulkarni, who was present, outlined the programme and said that Rs 15 crore was needed for carrying forward the campaign for the next two weeks".