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Will renting out building bail MP Cong out of fund woes?
As the Congress has initiated the process to rent out the first floor of Jawahar Bhavan at Roshanpura in Bhopal, the question doing the rounds in the political circles is if this exercise will bail the party out from the financial crisis it is facing.
As the Congress has initiated the process to rent out the first floor of Jawahar Bhavan at Roshanpura in Bhopal, the question doing the rounds in the political circles is if this exercise will bail the party out from the financial crisis it is facing.
Tender has been invited through advertisement by Jawahar Bhavan Trust from people who are interested in getting two halls in the building - each measuring about 18,000 sq feet.
Senior Congress leader Motilal Vora is chairman of the trust while Congress state unit chief, the leader of opposition and general secretary in-charge of the PCC office its members.
The Congress, out of power at the Centre and in Madhya Pradesh, is facing financial crisis in meeting its financial requirements in day-to-day working.
Party sources said at present, the AICC has to bear the expenses of the PCC staff and other office affairs.
Once, the trust extends its support to the party after renting out the building, the AICC may be relieved of the financial burden it has to bear for the state unit, they said.
There have been efforts in the past also to rent out the first and second floor of the building since the Congress state unit office was shifted from this building to a new building at Link Road no. 1. But the exercise was stalled for some reason or the other.
Then state unit president Subhash Yadav, who initiated the process, even faced charges from a section of party men that his intention was not good.
A party leader even offered his services to look after the property in lieu of a room in the building if it was to be allotted in his name but the party saw a design behind his offer.
Another party leader was said to be behind certain news in a section of the media against the move to rent out the building. The building once had a bank’s branch which earned the trust about `1.5-Rs 2 lakh per month.
Notably, the party fired about 50% of its staff when Yadav was the state unit president. Yadav assumed office after the party’s humiliating defeat in 2003 assembly elections and he found it difficult to meet the party expenses with meager resources.
The shops at the ground floor are already rented to businessmen and the trust gets about `40-50,000 from them, which is not enough.
If the building could be rented out this would really help the party, senior Congress leader Manak Agrawal told Hindustan Times.
Congress state unit spokesperson KK Mishra told Hindustan Times that the move had nothing to do with the party facing any financial crisis.
The property was already lying without use, hence it was a good decision on the trust’s part to rent it out and get some amount, he said, adding that it was up to the trust to use the money on the PCC affairs.
