Supporters corner minister Kaushik over fund target

Collecting donation for the party fund seems to be not going down well with BJP activists and leaders. On Saturday, Cabinet minister Madan Kaushik faced the ire of the party district unit office bearers when he was addressing a meeting regarding the ‘Ajeevan Sahyog Nidhi’ (lifetime party fund).

As soon as Madan Kaushik,a four-time legislator, began to guide party office bearers on ways to seek donations for the party fund, a majority of the members interrupted his speech and began to explain the problems they are facing in collecting party fund. The meeting was held at a city hotel.

Most of them said traders and industrialists were prime donors when it came to party funding but now these traditional donors were refusing to contribute to the party fund. A senior BJP office bearer complained the party’s financial resources is so weak that senior leaders are being given targets for fund collection.

A BJP woman worker said that post Goods and Service Tax implementation, most of the traders contend that they won’t dole out funds given that it is the ruling party that implemented the GST and hurt their earnings.

Kaushik pacified party workers, saying it was not only Haridwar or Uttarkahand and the party high command has given targets to all state units. “If party workers seriously take this task, then surely Haridwar will be one of the leading fund collection district in the state by February 11.”

A senior district unit office bearer said he and his colleagues had even given suggestions to the cabinet minister and Mayor Manoj Garg to personally reach out to big industrialists of SIDCUL from where hefty contribution can be pooled in.

After the meeting, Kaushik told HT that there was reservation among a section of the party leaders but he succeeded in making them understand the objective and ways to reach out to the people for the Ajeevan Sahyog Nidhi.

“The Ajeevan Sahyog Nidhi is just to put cover on illegal funding which BJP and other major political parties collect. Disclosing the source for donation for party funding below Rs 2,000 is not required, which is the major loophole the political parties are taking advantage of,”RTI activist JP Badoni said.