Published On:Friday, November 15, 2013
Posted by devil
After Shinde's probe, donations to AAP rise to Rs 30 lakh per day from Rs 7 lakh
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The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) stood on the cusp of meeting its financial milestone of raising Rs 20 crore on Friday, some two weeks ahead of schedule, and it has the Congress party and the central government to thank.
Ever since Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde announced a government inquiry into allegations of foreign funding of the fledgling political outfit founded by anti-corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal, the AAP's donors have gone into overdrive, pouring nearly Rs 90 lakhs into the party's coffers in the past five days and at a daily clip unseen in the past weeks or months.
It raised as much as Rs 30 lakhs on Tuesday, a day after Shinde announced the inquiry. "On an average, our donors contribute Rs 7 lakh every day. It could have easily taken us two weeks to raise another one crore," said Kumar Gaurav, an AAP volunteer overseeing funds collection. "But now we expect to meet our target by Saturday."
A day before Shinde announced the probe, AAP's total donations stood at Rs 19.1 crore. A significant chunk of the donations, according to Gaurav, continues to come from NRI donors.
One of them -- Jeevan Thomsan, an Indian living in Doha - said she made a fresh contribution this week, only that time around, the donation was an act of protest. "I am also a humble donor, to show my anger against false accusations I donated for the third time. I am not able to see any donation list of any other parties except the AAP. Still the others question the AAP funding," Thomson wrote on Kejriwal's Facebook page on Wednesday.
AAP's National Secretary Pankaj Gupta said the number of donors to the party too had increased. "The average number of donors donating daily has also shot up and that is what we are most excited about. It reflects our growing number of supporters," he said.
AAP's funding has come under the government scanner triggered by a petition in the Delhi High Court.
The Section 29B of the Representation of People's Act 1951 categorically prohibits political parties from accepting donations from government companies and any foreign source. AAP admits it has accepted donations from NRIs, but says each and every one of its donors holds an Indian passport and their contribution cannot therefore be tagged "foreign".
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