Empty coffers threaten Sonia's campaign
George Iype in New Delhi
Sonia Gandhi's poll campaign may have boosted the sagging morale
of Congress workers across the country, but her hefty tour
bills have added to the worries of a virtually bankrupt Congress
party on the eve of the general election.
The coffers of the 112-year-old Congress party -- once the richest
-- are now said to be empty.
On Friday, party president Sitaram Kesri convened an unusual meeting
of top Congress leaders to chalk out a strategy to tackle the grave funds
crunch that has hit the party.
Kesri, who served as Congress treasurer for nearly twenty years,
had bad news to convey: the party could not bankroll the election campaign of its candidates.
He has now set up informal fund-raising committees to search
for potential donors and businessmen in an effort to mop up
the requisite funds to fight the election.
Thus a committee consisting of K Karunakaran, Oscar Fernandes
and Kotla Vijayabhaskar Reddy will seek funds in the southern states
of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Another committee comprising Arjun Singh, Ahmed Patel, Madhavrao
Scindia, Jitendra Prasada and Ghulam Nabi Azad will try to collect
money from the northern states, while Sharad Pawar has been asked
to collect funds from Maharashtra.
The party's three prominent chief ministers -- J B Patnaik
of Orissa, Digvijay Singh of Madhya Pradesh and Virbhadra Singh
of Himachal Pradesh -- have also been requested to contribute generously
to the Congress coffers.
Congress sources cite the party's declining political fortunes over the last 10 years as the main reason for the acute funds shortage.
"No one will contribute liberally to a party which does
not have a charismatic leader at its helm," a Congress official told Rediff On The NeT.
After the Rajiv Gandhi assassination, he said the Congress
treasury has always been in a state of deficit as donors refused the party money.
The Congress's monthly bank statements read like a debtor's notebook.
The party is now paying an interest of 18 per cent on a Rs 120
million overdraft drawn from the Allahabad Bank, Canara Bank and Syndicate
Bank.
Every month, the Congress spends nearly Rs 2.2 million on the operational
expenses of its sprawling office at 24, Akbar Road in New Delhi.
Added to this recurring expense are the huge campaign funds
that the party has to mop up at short notice.
Sonia's whirlwind election tour across the country is expected
to cost the party nearly Rs 120 million. It includes the cost of
the chartered plane in which she travels.
Moreover, the party is duty-bound to dole out money to each candidate
it is fielding. The Election Commission has allowed each candidate
to spend a maximum of Rs 1.5 million on the campaign. "I
will be happy if the party leadership gives me at least Rs 100,000,"
a sitting MP from Kerala said.
Congress treasurer Ahmed Patel, however, denies that the party is facing
a serious financial crisis.
"The Congress treasury has enough funds to fight the election,
and we do not need money to win an election," he told
Rediff On The NeT.
While not many candidates expect to be given party funds, the
Congress leadership hopes to collect a sizeable amount from the thousands
of ticket seekers from various states.
It also hopes that the party's informal fund raising committees
will be able to raise at least Rs 1.5 billion from mega donors.
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