Adityanath govt under fire over Kolkata flyover's image in 'UP transformation' ad

In a huge embarrassment for the Yogi Adithyanath government, an advertisement titled 'Transforming Uttar Pradesh under Adityanath' came under fire on Sunday after social media users noticed that the image on the ad belonged to the Kolkata flyover.

The Uttar Pradesh government's ad showed the image of CM Adityanath towering over a collage of state's infrastructure projects. Twitter users were quick to point out the iconic yellow taxis found in West Bengal's capital city. Members of Trinamool Congress also slammed the advertisement for "stealing an image".

The Indian Express tweeted that the advertisement was produced by their marketing department and apologised for "inadvertently" using the "wrong image". The newspaper wrote that the error is deeply regretted and the image has been removed in all digital editions of the paper.

Journalist Alok Pandey tweeted that the flyover in the ad appears to be the Maa Flyover from Kolkata and the tall buildings are the JW Marriot by the same flyover. Activist and Trinamool Congress leader Saket Gokhale tweeted: "Transforming UP means spending millions on newspaper ads around India and stealing pics of development in Kolkata?"

Another Twitter user said that the picture was lifted from TMC's website. The Trinamool Congress' National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee tweeted: "Looks like the double engine model has (failed) miserably in BJP's strongest state and now stands exposed for all."