Congress opts for crowd funding to finance Rajasthan assembly elections’ campaign
Rajasthan Congress president Sachin Pilot said, “This is an initiative by AICC and the idea behind it is not just raising funds but to establish connect with people.”
Facing a cash crunch, the Congress in Rajasthan has opted for crowd funding and is now running a 77-day campaign to finance assembly elections scheduled for later this year.
The state Congress has collected a sum of Rs 2,47, 477 from 168 donors in last two days.
The top five donors include Sushil Asopa (Rs 25,000) and Sachin Mathur (Rs 21,000), followed by Arvind Verma (Rs 12,000), Rukshmani Kumari (Rs 11,000) and Salman Aneez Soz (Rs 10,000) .
The party is also using social media for the purpose– the web page for contributions has tabs to share the initiative on WhatsApp messenger and Facebook.
In 2015, it was the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had run the crowd funding campaign called ‘Donate to AAP’.
State Congress president Sachin Pilot said, “This is an initiative by AICC and the idea behind it is not just raising funds but to establish connect with people.”
He added, “The election is for the public and by the public but their involvement has been going down slowly. Only casting your vote is not fully participating in democracy. Making politicians accountable during and after the elections, ensuring your participation and contributing to the elections, be it financially or politically or in principle, there should be a public stake and involvement.”
Pilot said at least the Congress party wants to ensure this. “I feel the Congress has public support. We might lack resources, but we have people’s blessings. The public that is feeling cheated from the last four years understands that, if Congress comes to power we can create a better future for the youth and farmers.” He added that in coming days, “it will be a victory of the people. I am sure that the Congress will get people’s blessings”.
About the fundraiser, the party stated that over the last few years, the Congress party has been growing with strength in Rajasthan. From the local municipal and panchayat polls to the by elections for the assembly and parliament constituencies, the Congress continues to win a growing number of seats. It is evident that the people are tired of the mis-governance, corruption and apathy of the BJP and opinion polls suggest a clear lead for the Congress in the state. Now, just months away from the crucial assembly elections in the state, the Congress party is reaching out to you, the citizens of India to participate by making a contribution, the party said.
The Congress party went on to say that the equation is now well known - it’s the BJP’s cash power versus people’s power.
“During Karnataka polls earlier this year, the BJP spent over Rs 300 crore on advertising alone and thousands of crores on the state election. On one hand, you have BJP’s billionaire friends giving them thousands of crores of rupees to control the media and public opinion, while on the other hand you have distressed farmers, women, jobless youth and citizens struggling to make a living.
If a few thousand citizens could join hands and support this campaign, Sachin Pilot and his team will have enough funds to take on the corrupt BJP regime in Rajasthan. They will use these funds to reach the last person and take their concerns on board, unlike the BJP that just believes in spending crores of rupees to manipulate public opinion and to make false promises,” the party said.
