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BJP-Congress ad war hots up

The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress are engaged in another war this time -- advertising in the print media.

Media managers of both the parties were busy last night keeping a tab on each other's ads scheduled for publication in today's editions.

Congress sources said they had delivered their advertisement highlighting the 13 months of bungling by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and how Bal Thackeray held the nation to ransom to the offices of certain Delhi newspapers late last night.

The BJP got wind of this and they readied an ad replying to the charges in the Congress advertisement. They then approached the advertising departments of the papers concerned and asked them to withdraw their earlier material and carry the new ads instead.

Some were ready to oblige but there was pressure from the other side. One of the papers did not or could not carry the ads of either party.

Last time the BJP managed to issue an ad on the very day the Congress released an ad.

The Congress held an inquiry to find out who had leaked the information. The result of the inquiry is not known, but the Congress managers, the sources said, this time around are taking no chances.

UNI

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